Dr Zhivago (1965) 2/10
It's about a USSR general who interviews a woman who was orphaned as a child, to figure out if she in fact is his niece. The entire film is a series of flashbacks.
How this has such a high rating defies all reason. I understand why so many people want to like it, since it's an anti-communist book and film released at the height of the cold war. So the rating must be pure politics, because the film sucks.
Paper thin, melodramatic, larger than life characters. They're all soap opera characters. Nobody acts believably. All the communists are super evil except the Bolshevik general from the frame story. Dr Zhivago is a complete and total saint... always. A flawless man. That is boring to watch. And apart from being a super hero he is also a super smart poet. I rolled my eyes way too many times in this film.
Whenever something interesting is set up, it never goes anywhere. They just do random shit. At one point they're coming to their country house and find that it's been expropriated by the government. So they don't move in. Instead they find a cottage near by. Ok, fine. But later they simply move into the big house... and nothing happens. What was the point of that whole section? Nothing is explained. The over-the-top score only exists to tell the audience how they're supposed to feel in each scene. In case the viewer is a complete moron.
The frame is stupid. It starts off with the general trying to convince a woman that she's his niece and she doesn't think so. At the end of the movie she still remembers nothing. The entire film is just the general telling the story without it waking any memories in the woman. It ends with them agreeing on nothing. He offers to take care of her as if she is his niece. She rejects the offer and walks off. The frame is a non-event. It makes the entire movie pointless. Nothing happened, for three fucking hours. Give me my minutes back.
It does make a point of that revolutions are messy which favours the opportunistic, rather than idealistic. Which I guess is interesting. But not really news, and hardly enough to keep me intersted for three fucking hours!!! Nothing that happens in the film matters in any way. It's just a long list of, first this happened, and then this happend, and then that happened.
I've read somewhere that the characters aren't supposed to be people. They only exist as mouthpieces for the author's Kantian philosophy. Which would make the film make sense. But it would also make the film boring. Just read a book on Kant instead. A much better use of your time.
The CIA paid for it's publication, circulation and smuggled the book into Russia. It was intended to be used as a weapon of propaganda. But it's dumb ass. The story is about a very wealthy and noble family, and that the revolution was bad for them. How is that going to convince the regular Joe in Russia that communism is bad? I don't get it. I think the film needs to be seen in context. Once the cold war died this film's value died with it.
It's only redeeming quality is the cinematography. But even so. There's plenty of films that blow this out of the water.
Edit: It has also recieved critisisms about being factually incorrect. It gets the history wrong. So it has virtually zero educational value. It's a pure propaganda piece. So stupid.
I saw this as a kid on TV and loved it. Made me get the ERB book to read and I loved that too.