It’s all a mystery… Love – the idea that there is someone already there in the world who might hold the key to your whole existence.
Doctor Zhivago (2002)
It’s all a mystery, love what makes a good adaptation. Well who knows! All we can do is state our personal opinions and that’s excactly what I am going to do here. I mean come on I have been talking about imperial Russia and Keira Knightley in my previous post (Anna Karenina) so ths was inevitable for evreyone who knows me and my obsession for anything Zhivago related.
As I have stated in an older post I do love the 2002 version of Boris Pasternak novel and I say that despite the fact that I grew up with 1965 adaptation. I remember being totally in love the old movie and it was the very first thing I recorded when my dad boughts us our first VCR (yes I am that old) only to find out that the videotape ended before the final scene. I was seriously heartbroken! But I better stop raving and continue with the 2002 version.
What I do love so much about this new version is that is not a copy of the original movie. It has various changes and it includes a lot of characters that were never shown in the 1965 version and although it is not as epic and as poetic as the older movie, it is definately more complete. The characters are better developped and thus we understand them better. It kind of fills the blanks that David Lean’s movie has left. For example, in the Lean’s movie it is obvious that Yuri (Omar Sharif) deeply distrusts and dislikes Victor Komarovsky from the moment he sets eyes on him, long before his marriage with Tanya or his affair with Lara. It is never explained. I mean I can understand why he didn’t want to accept his help in the end of the movie -being Lara’s ex lover and all- but in the beginning when he hardly knows anything about her or him, for all we know, it was utterly inexplicable and confusing. I was always wondering if his dislike and jeaulousy for Komarovsky was a good enough reason for him to sacrifice Lara and their love. Yuri was obviously an honest, pride man but was that enough reason to turn down Komarovsky’s help and loose Lara over this. Somehow it seemed wrong. However, the 2002 version gives us a lot more information and when Yuri turns down Komarovsky and let’s Lara go it is totally understandable.
The acting is good and as I have said elsewhere this mini series was the reason that I fell in love with Keira. I used to rather dislike then until I saw her as Lara, but her performance managed to change my opinion. She somehow managed to portray Lara in a beautiful, well played, deep way. I was so sure that she will never be able to compare with Julie Christie’s portrait of Lara, but she really did it. Hans Matheson was really good and he had a beautiful chemistry with Keira, but I cannot say that I was as impressed with him as with Keira. Finally, Sam Neil was a really good Komarovsky; mean, cunning, unscrupulous and somehow on the same time he managed to be seductive. He played he character in a way that it was as much obvious as inevitable that Lara wanted him and hated him at the same time.
The music isn’t as epic or as haunting as the 1965 version which incudes the unforgetable Lara’s Theme. However, it is a seriously nice score that fits the story perfectly and that you would like to listen from time to time.
To sum up, I should say that this is a nice period drama. The direction is good (it has some excellent black and white scenes about the Russian revolution which was a really nice touch), the characters were well casted (not everyone gave an unforgettable performance, but they were all good and no one was bad or annoying) and the cinematography was really beautiful.
In this point I should say that I read the book years after I have seen both the movie and this mini series and I should admit that both of them are rather unfaithful to the book. But since I have literally grown up with the 1965 movie I cannot dislike any of this really American adaptations, although both of them are rather unfaithful to the book. But in this case I simply cannot see it like that and I prefer to jugde the adaptations rather independly from the book. If you are looking though for a more faithful, a more russian and seriously less American adapation you should check the 2006 russian version, which by the way is the biggest and more complete of them all. However I would love to hear what someone has to say about both the books and the adaptation. So guys, what do you think about the Docto Zhivago adaptations?
Fire & Air 