Tuesday, February 15, 2005
END OF THE FIRST HALF—COMMIES AHEAD
We are watching Doctor Zhivago (1965) and saw the first half today. We have just been sent to the gulag or the Steppes or maybe Siberia. I am not too clear. The Doc is hot because he writes bourgeois poems and all and has to get out of town, fast.
It is pretty good. A David Lean epic is all that. Big crowds, vast landscapes, epic (of course) battles. The acting is secondary to the story, plot, and cinematography. Everyone is good but it seems that they are mostly acting alone; often cardboard.
But we are enjoying it. It is always very watchable and attractive. Perhaps too much so. It was done in the era when privation, starvation, and devastation did nothing to the star's makeup or costumes.
Julie Christy's starched collar after 6 months in an end-of the-world military hospital does take one's mind out of the story. There is absolutely no suspension of disbelief. It is an epic film that we are watching and there are many many times when we oooh and ahhhh at effects or photography. We even wonder how he did that incredible tracking shot. It is still fun.
