2pc Box: Doctor Zhivago - DVD

 

 

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I have seen this movie before and thought it was so excellant that I wanted to own it. It came to me in excellant condition, but I have not viewed this DVD yet so I don't know if it has no flaws. I certainly hope it does not because I may not view it for a while and it would be too late to send it back.
But the dealers sent it to me in very good condition.

While I will always love David Lean's 1965 film version of Boris Pasternak's Noble Prize-winning novel, this two-part British miniseries has a lot going for it. First of all, it is more intimate, and includes many smaller characters from the novel that Lean's film did not. And the love story between Lara and Pasha, so lovingly detailed in the novel, also gets its turn to take center stage. Keira Knightely is a beautiful, strong and talented actress, and she had some big shoes to fill, but she more than holds her own. Hans Matheson is gorgeous, although sometimes he seems a bit too broody, and it's a bit hard to understand why he would give up his sweet and lovely wife, Tonya (the luminous Alexandra Maria Lara) for his former nurse/helper. I have to say that Kris Marshall is cute and excellent as Pasha, the young revolutionary, whose love for Lara and jealousy towards the despicable Victor Komarovsky (the appropriately slimy Sam Neill), leads him to join the army and ultimately, become Strelinkov. I especially liked the references to him made by Lara later and the meeting at Varykino between Yuri and Pasha, the two men in Lara's life. Again, this is true to the novel, as is Yuri's childhood friend Misha's (the hot and handsome Daniel Liotti) secret, longing passion for Tonya. The affair between Komarovsky and Lara succeeds in being both fascinating and repulsive and the same time. These love stories, along with the upheaval caused by the revolution and WW1, make for excellent viewing. Of course, people have been complaining about the lack of Russian accents or dialogue, and the brief nude scenes involving Lara and Tonya, since Keira Knightley was still a minor when the movie was shot. Please, it's so brief you'll only notice if you zoom in and pause. It's not as explicit as some movies out there. The only complaint I have is regarding the ending. First of all, Yuri and Lara's child was a girl, not a son, named Tanya, after Yuri's wife. And Tonya was not killed, she moved to Paris with her father and her children, son Sasha and daughter Masha (whom Yuri never meets), and Yuri remarries a woman named Marina. And Komarovsky, who succeeds in possessing Lara again, deliberately leaves little Tanya in a burning street, she is lost, and Lara spends the last part of the novel searching for her. The character of Yevgraf, who was Yuri's half brother, doesn't figure here, but he was an important role in both the novel and the 1965 film. The original film ends with Yevgraf having located the daughter, and learning that she has an instinctive talent for the balalaika (again, important in the novel and in Lean's film, but not mentioned here). And when Yuri sees Lara again, they are both senior citizens, but I guess that can be overlooked. And nothing was quoted from Zhivago's poetry either!!!!! But, quibbles aside, it is worth seeing, and get out the Kleenex, and compare with the 1965 version, they are both good in different ways. Enjoy, romantics!!!!!!

I recorded Dr. Zivago when it came out on KCET...and this movie is completely romantic for the people who truely look at the hearth of love... I really recomand this movie for the people who believe that their is always a chance in life to be together with your true love... even if society and time separate you...

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5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful.
I never thought they could re-make one of the most wonderful love stories of all time and have it be credible, but it was done--I was blown away. Read more

Published on Jun 29 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth Owning
Very impressive remake. Bravo Mr. Campiotti and production crew! I was more than skeptical about his new version of Doctor Zhivago, a remake of David Lean's Classic? Read more

Published on Feb 22 2004 by Fred T. Lopez

3.0 out of 5 stars Is something wrong with my TV?
I would be only too happy to give this adaptation 4 stars, maybe even 4 1/2, but there seems to be a slight problem. Read more

Published on Jan 30 2004 by DARBY KERN

3.0 out of 5 stars After a couple of screenings I found a great surprise....
As a tv production professor I'm one of the freaks that can easily watch a movie or a scene 200 times, break it into pieces and put it up together again. Read more

Published on Jan 21 2004 by mediadoc

5.0 out of 5 stars my review about the mini series dr. zhivago it rocks.
i really liked watching this flim it totall y touched my heart. and the actors and actresses where really good in this mini series. Read more

Published on Dec 28 2003 by Rosie calahorrano

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually, more 3.5 stars...
...or perhaps 3.75 -- I approached this TV version with an open mind. I love the 1965 movie for many reasons, but I'm not fanatic about it. Read more

Published on Dec 9 2003 by SusieQ

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Love Story: Matheson & Keira Knightlely(2003 AD)
To: Fans of Russian Literature, Film, or Tele-Film.

This motion picture came out on Exxon Mobiles Master
Piece Theatre, and the Re-Make of Dr. Read more

Published on Dec 6 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars A good try, but...
Having seen and appreciated the 1965 classic version of this movie, I was curious to compare and contrast the classic with the new. Read more

Published on Nov 22 2003 by BD.

4.0 out of 5 stars White Heat
Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" has at times been mistakenly perceived as a Classic in the same mold as "The Brothers Karamazov" for example. Read more

Published on Nov 22 2003 by MICHAEL ACUNA

5.0 out of 5 stars Different and better
I saw the David Lean version many years ago and at a much younger age; I remember mostly snow and cold and not really getting it - the great love story. Read more

Published on Nov 16 2003

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