Saturday, December 29, 2018

Pasternak versus The Evil Empire

The trailer for "The Real Doctor Zhivago."

The Wall Street Journal review of the documentary notes: 

Among the many sides of Pasternak's story the film manages to include in its hour is also, not surprisingly, commentary on the political impact of the novel: in particular, efforts by the CIA - encouraged by British intelligence - to exploit "Doctor Zhivago" as a propaganda weapon against the Soviet state. Not surprisingly either, the commentary, by an investigative reporter, on the CIA's effort to get copies of the novel smuggled into the Soviet Union comes with a distinct tone of sniffiness. The note of moral superiority is unmistakable, as is invariably the case when a certain kind of journalistic endeavor includes mention of CIA activities. An exceedingly strange tone used in regard to an effort to slip novels into the land of the Lubyanka and the gulag.

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