Doctor Zhivago Blu-ray

Doctor Zhivago is a 1965 epic or drama-romance-war film directed by David Lean and loosely based on the famous novel of the same name by Boris Pasternak. It remained popular for decades, and as of 2010 was the eighth highest grossing film of all time adjusted for inflation. The film takes place for the most part during the tumultuous period of 1912–1921, the years which included World War I, the Russian Revolution, and Russian Civil War, as the regime of Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and the Soviet Union established. A framing device, from which the film is narrated, takes place sometime in the 1950s, though a specific date is never mentioned.

The film version of Doctor Zhivago is faithful to the novel in a general sense; the basic plot remains the same, and the story rarely deviates from the novel. However, many of the subplots—particularly regarding the novel's historical/political facets—were glossed over or edited down. Nearly half of the book's characters were excised while others had their parts significantly reduced (particularly Anna Gromeko, Pasha, and Liberius the Partisan commander).

Other characters (most notably Kuril, the Bolshevik deserter, Commissar Razin, and Petya, the Varykino groundskeeper) were created as an amalgamation of characters from the book which had been excised from the film version. Many reviewers have criticized the film in particular for reducing the depiction of World War I to a mere five minute narration sequence, and a similar treatment of Zhivago's service with the Partisans, which took up nearly seventy pages of the novel.

Overall, this movie as a theatrical experience has improved with age and it continues to be rated as the 5 Star production, including the wonderful music score.