Doctor Zhivago

Author: Boris Pasternak
Publisher: Pantheon Books, New York 1997

I went to see Doctor Zhivago when it was being shown at Majestic Bambalapitiya.  It was the old Majestic, situated on about half an acre of land. The large parking lot was surrounded by a wall with gates.  I was standing in the second class line hoping to get a ticket.  To give you an idea about ticket prices, a gallery ticket was Rs. 55 cents; a second class ticket was Rs. 1.10; a first class ticket was Rs. 2.25; an ODC (Ordinary Dress Circle) ticket was Rs. 2.75; and a BDC (Balcony Dress Circle) was Rs. 3.50.  Being still in school, I couldn't afford the high prices of the first class and beyond. 

Women did not have to stay in a line those days and therefore, they usually arrived just a few minutes before the show time.  The person behind the counter announced that the second class was sold out with just two people in front of me in the line. Then he said the gallery tickets were still available. I hesitated a little bit before deciding to get a gallery ticket. Apparently, all other classes were sold out, and a few very pretty girls who arrived late decided to purchase gallery tickets as well. I was just a 17-year-old going to an all-boys school and was very excited to sit among the most beautiful girls in the entire hall. 

Once the movie started and I was enchanted by Lara, I forgot all about the pretty girls. I was on cloud nine, soothed by Lara's theme. I do not remember how I got home. Probably, I crossed the Galle road in front of the Cinema Hall, walked up to Buller's road, crossed Buller's road at the Elasto sign, walked up to the bus stand, and got on either the 104 bus or the 154 bus and got down at Borella.  By the way, this was before N. M. Perera increased the bus fare by an අළුක්කාලක්.  The lowest bus fare was 5 cents and the ticket was 10 cents from Bambalapitiya to Borella.  (After fares went up by an අළුක්කාලක්, the lowest fare was 10 cents.)

All these thoughts rushed to me when I picked up Doctor Zhivago to read. Even though the story in the book is somewhat different from the story in the movie, I think the director captured Lara accurately in the movie, and Julie Christie was the ideal woman to represent the Lara character. I was mesmerized by the book, perhaps because of my fond memories of the movie. 

Western liberals were quick to promote the book as soon as they realized that the author could not get it published in the Soviet Union because of the content of the book. The book is a great book, but Western liberals went overboard when they offered the Nobel Prize for literature the following year to Pasternak. There was such a negative reaction to this offer in the Soviet Union, and Pasternak had to decline the offer. 

On the other hand, if the author managed to get it published in the Soviet Union, then there would be no brouhaha about the book in the West, no Nobel Prize, no movie, and perhaps, I may not get to know about the book at all. Therefore, there is a silver lining to that madness.

Ironically, Doctor Zhivago did not win the Academy Award for Best Picture; instead, it went to The Sound of Music. I have seen both movies, and, in my opinion, Doctor Zhivago is the superior film. Worse yet, Julie Christie won the Best Actress award, not for her role in Doctor Zhivago, but for a different movie called Darling in the same year.

If I cannot find the movie in a library, I may buy it, as I have a strong urge to see it again.