Most of you have probably seen "Dr. Zhivago", and equate the face of Omar Shariff as Yuri and Julie Christi as Lara, his beloved. To be truly mesmerized, read the novel on which the movie was based. I so loved the character of Lara, that I named a daughter after her. To my dismay, I didn't read the novel before viewing the film, thus my inner mind dutifully filled in the characters with the movie star faces. As usual, the script for the movie is far removed from what Pasternak meant to convey. The role of Lara is a case in point. Self-supporting and educated, Lara is a determined young woman with independent spirit on the pages of the book; the movie seems to want to portray her as a victim of the Revolution. Although I love Julie Christie, the actress, I think it is a shame that the director and/or script writer reduces her role to primarily just a pretty face. Likewise the role of Tanya on the big screen is changed for the worse. Yes, you pity Tanya, but I don't believe Pasternak intended for her to appear as dull as oatmeal.
Even with my contempt with the rewrite version for Hollywood, the film still moves me; the music score gives me goosebumps and is such an important part of the storytelling. My favorite scene, one I play again and again in my memory, is just an odd camera shot - Yuri and Lara have worked together in a field hospital and have fallen in love. They must part from one another; it is late afternoon and the last rays of sun are shining on a vase of sunflowers picked by Yuri for Lara. The petals are falling languidly to the floor, one by one. "Somewhere My Love" (Lara's Theme)is playing softly in the background, the melodious notes of the balalaika a perfect accompaniment to the rich scene.
Pasternak's writings are just as beautiful as music from the strings of a balalaika:
"Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation's tears in shoulder blades."
Sir Bacon says it all succinctly, "Some books are to tasted; others to be swallowed; and some few to be chewed and digested." Ain't it the truth, ain't it the truth!
3 comments:
one of my faves too. I love a great book...
I haven't read it... but now it's on the (rather long) list!
(leaps to feet, cheers, whistles, hoots a bit, jumps up and down)
Pattie, this is beautiful, and 100% spot-on. I was a double major in English lit and Russian when I was in college, and when I learned that we would be reading Dr. Zhivago in our 20th century Russian lit class, I was not exactly thrilled. I am ashamed to admit that even though I love all the principals behind the movie (Sharif, Christie, Lean, etc.), somehow the movie's magic never quite worked for me. But the book, the book, the book! I thought Pasternak did a brilliant job of capturing the chaos of the Revolution, and what it did to families and lovers. And you're right: both Tanya and Lara are much more interesting in the book. Much is made of the agony of Zhivago and Lara being separated from each other, but until I read the book, I never realized what kind of pain Zhivago felt at the loss of his family, of Tanya and his son, and how that brought a whole other dimension to the strength of his love for Lara. (Being a bookworm and a general nerd, I could go on and on, but I'll try not to. ;)
Incidentally, I love your site. I found you via Steve at Blog d'Elisson and Kimberly at Music and Cats. That post about the white beans and the hambone alone should have nabbed you a Pulitzer.
Bakerina
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