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The Real Doctor Zhivago

BBC Four

Stephen Smith

George Cathro

Ross Wilson

Mark Bell

Matchlight

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

07/11/2017

BBC Four - The Real Doctor Zhivago

The untold story of the real Dr Zhivago - Boris Pasternak.

Documentary in which Stephen Smith traces the revolutionary beginnings of Dr Zhivago, one of the best-known love stories of the 20th century, written by Boris Pasternak.

Dr Zhivago is one of the best-known love stories of the 20th century, but the setting of the book also made it famous. It is a tale of passion and fear, set against a backdrop of revolution and violence. The film is what most people remember, but the story of the writing of the book has more twists, intrigue and bravery than many a Hollywood blockbuster.

In this documentary, Stephen Smith traces the revolutionary beginnings of this bestseller to it becoming a pawn of the CIA at the height of the Cold War. The writer of the novel, Boris Pasternak, in the words of his family, willingly committed acts of literary suicide in being true to the Russia he loved, but being honest about the Soviet regime he hated and despised. Under Stalin, writers and artists just disappeared if they did not support the party line. Many were murdered.

Writing his book for over 20 tumultuous years, Boris Pasternak knew it could result in his death. It did result in his mistress being sent to the gulag twice, but he had to have his say. This is the story of the writing of perhaps the bravest book ever published. It is the story before the film won Oscars and its author, the Nobel Prize. It is the untold story of the real Dr Zhivago - Boris Pasternak.


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