A flashback told by Zhivago's brother Yevgraf (Alec Guiness), who is in search of his niece. He believes no one could find the worth of Zhivago (Omar Sharif) while he was alive. We see few scenes from Zhivago's young life, a very long shot of Zhivago looking at the dead body of his mother, who is getting cremated. 

Zhivago is good at poetry, which is loved by his wife but the real inspiration comes when he meets his 2nd love Lara (Julie Christie). Lara is exploited by her step father Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), so much that she tries to kill him but fails in her shooting. 

The film is set in the backdrop of 1st World war and a russian revolution, how the life of Zhivago gets affected, he tries to balance between both his wife and the love of Lara. While Lara who initially loved Pasha (Tom Courtenary) changed ways with Zhivago, since the time they got seperated during a fight sequence. Zhivago who is a doctor, comes as a aid to the injured people, with Lara helping as a nurse, the time where the love starts to blossom between Zhivago and Lara but they dont get physical since Lara feels that would spoil Zhivago's image. 

Cinematography is excellent, be it that rain sequence when Zhivago is a kid, or the one where he is on a horse coming back from meeting Lara, or the beautiful garden Zhivago and his wife create outside their new house. 

What makes the film emotionally moving, is the love shared by Zhivago and Lara, nothing exceptional though but in the context of the film and the times they meet, it makes it special. Plus, the chemistry between them is really good. Special mention to the scene where Zhivago and Yevgraf meets for 1st time, no dialogues shared. 

I like the climax dialogue 'Ahh.. then its a gift'. The background score is good, especially during scenes involving lots of action (not fights). 

Only problem I find in film is, its way too long, over 3 hours. Could had edited it a bit, though those long and silent moments at places makes the film beautiful only, so not really hard feelings.

Overall, Doctor Zhivago is a film especially aimed for movie buffs only, a good one time watch for sure.