97. The Unforgettable Fire &...

Ice, your only rivers run cold
These city lights, they shine as silver and gold
Dug from the night, your eyes as black as coal

Walk on by, walk on through
Walk 'til you run
And don't look back
For here I am

Carnival
The wheels fly and the colors spin through alcohol
Red wine that punctures the skin face to face
In a dry and waterless place

Walk on by, walk on through
So sad to besiege your love so head on
Stay in this time, stay tonight in a lie
I'm only asking but I, I think you know

Come on take me away
Come on take me away
Come on take me home
Home again

And if the mountain should crumble
Or I disappear into the sea
Not a tear, no not I

Stay in this time, stay tonight in a lie
Ever after this love in time
And if you save your love, save it all
Save it all

Don't push me too far
Don't push me too far
Tonight, tonight, tonight

A rather forgettable song, this one. I choose to interpret it as an epic romance (involving ice and alcohol), mostly because otherwise I couldn't think of a movie to link it to. 

The Movie: Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)

Apparently this film doesn't have a great reputation. I don't think that's entirely fair, as I liked it quite a bit. I think that especially the first half, up until the intermission, is really good. Having said that, I am not really the best person to write about this film. I had not seen a David Lean movie before this, and I haven't read Boris Pasternak classic book either. I also appreciated it, because it's so unlike any movie made today. It's an epic that trusts fully the patience of its audience. That's clear from the beginning. Before the opening credits, before we even see the MGM logo, there is an Overture. For more than three minutes we hear classical music, while on the screen we see nothing but the word Overture set against the background of a still painting of a forest. 

Lean also takes his time before setting the plot in motion. During the first hour, the best of the film, we get to slowly know all the four/five main characters. He makes us slowly understand how they all relate to one another. Thus we get really interested in their lives and how they all start to excitingly intertwine with each other. This is all set against the backdrop of the rise of communism in tsarist Russia. I also found some of the stylistic choices of Lean interesting. Especially during the first hour he makes extensive use of mirrors. The characters are often placed in such a way that we both see what's happening directly, and through their reflections in the mirror. Furthermore, many interior scenes are filmed with the camera sitting outside. The camera films in other words through windows, and through walls. This means that we often do not hear the dialogue in a scene, but we understand what happens in it, because it's set up really well. It's as if these characters are filmed secretly, as if the camera is an intrusion of their lives. This fits, what I assume is one of the main points in the book. Strelkov's quote: "The personal life is dead in Russia. History killed it". 

Strelkov (played by Tom Courtenay, who got an Oscar nomination for it) is besides Zhivago the most interesting character in the film. He begins as an earnest, idealistic but decent, revolutionary, called Pasha, who truly believes that communism will be positive for all in Russia. He ends up being a ruthless general who wipes out whole villages, because they disagree with him. (In a case of life imitating art, it is disquieting to consider that the separatist who shot the MH 17 airplane this summer named himself after this character). But the film works for me, because Doctor Zhivago is a very interesting character, played brilliantly by Omar Sharif. Not knowing the Doctor Zhivago of the book, I think that this is a really great performance. If Sharif sometimes seems confused and out of place, it is because Doctor Zhivago here is confused and out of place. He is not a hero, or is so only accidentally. His poems about love and the personal life, are shunned by communists, who think art should be about the common good, and the nation. Therefore they are acts of subversion, but it is important to realize that Zhivago doesn't intend them as acts of subversion. He just writes poetry because he enjoys writing poetry. What doctor Zhivago wants is to have a normal life with his family (and with his mistress), do his duty as a doctor, and write poetry. He is incapable of influencing the political situation in Russia, nor does he want to. The movie makes very well clear that for Zhivago it doesn't really matter who is in power, as long as he can live as normally as possible. The movie shows it is impossible to lead such an apolitical life under an authoritarian regime, but that doesn't stop Zhivago from trying. 

Now, the last (half) hour of the movie doesn't really work for me either. That is for quite a simple reason. I liked Tonya more than Lara. I thought Geraldine Chaplin was prettier than Julie Christie, and that she gave a better performance than her. I found her much more sympathetic, and I thought the chemistry between Sharif and Chaplin was better than that between Sharif and Christie.