The funeral of Yuri’s (Dr. Zhivago’s) mother.

They’re rereleasing this monumental milestone in film history on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. I noted this somewhat flippantly at Facebook, assuming, wrongly I suppose on reflection, that everyone in the movie audience knows of it. But it doesn’t play on TV, hasn’t for many years, and so I want to make the case for finding it and watching it.

It’s the work of the great British film director David Lean, who didn’t think a movie was worth making if it didn’t last three hours and torment your deepest emotions. Doctor Zhivago is a romance set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution. Its stars are, in order, the vast Russian landscape, the impossibly beautiful Julie Christie, the lambent eyes of Omar Sharif, and the haunting score written by Maurice Jarre.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=old4K4Tpo8c

If it’s occurred to you at some level that they don’t make great movies anymore, this masterpiece will cement your suspicion to a certainty.

When there was still such a thing as romance.

I’ll close with the immensely superior sound quality of this version of Kontakion from the first clip. (Be advised, the new Zhivago promises to equal this quality.)