What a meandering mess of a movie. This is a three hour attempt at being both a revolutionary epic and a personal romance that fails at both. Adapting the 700-page novel required trimming, and trimming they did. Important plot points (such as births and deaths) are glossed over, mentioned in passing once, and built off of extensively afterwards. The beginning is extremely confusing, as it flashes back to a different person from the one who gives the voice-over. The pacing was a travesty; I consistently found myself asking what the point of a scene was and no answer came. Pointless scenes in a long movie make an extremely boring movie. I have to say Omar Sharif's acting reminded me of Keanu Reeves' acting; however, it may just be the character that is flat, emotionless, and confused. Imagine watching Keanu Reeves wandering around for three and a half hours; yeah, it's like that.
There were three brilliant things in this movie, which elevate it from a 1 to a 2. The first is the incredible long take following Komarovsky in the beginning when Lara attempts to kill herself. The second is a scene where the two Zhivago brothers meet. One is describing the meeting in voice-over from many years later, and even though the two are talking in the flashback, his past voice is silent while his voice-over explains what he's saying. An example: In response to a question, the voice-over says, "I lied," while the past voice simultaneously mouths, "Yes." The third is the astounding ending. I also liked how it showed how the two main characters' lives intertwined before they even met without either one's realizing it. Unfortunately, these elements do not make the movie worth watching.IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0059113/