The Wombury Watches a Movie

I'm watching Dr. Zhivago today. It's all about the Russian Revolution. I'm only about an hour into the movie, to the beginning of World War I, three years before the Revolution begins. The narrator (Alec Guinness), has just explained to the audience that from the conventional Bourgeoisie point of view, the war is between Germany and Russia but from the Bolshevik point of view it is between the German upper classes and the Russian upper classes. The Bolsheviks instructed ol' Alec to enlist in order to sabotage the war effort. Why would the Bolsheviks want to lose? Because a loss in the Great War abroad would mean victory at home for the Bolsheviks. The peasants who comprised the bulk of the army would turn against the command and revolt once the supplies ran out. This is historically accurate, by the way. The Wombury got something out of teaching world history for two years.

The thing is, there hasn't been much face time for the character of Dr. Zhivago. We know he's a doctor (very good work detective) and a poet and he just got engaged and he hates this sleazy dude (Rod Steiger) who was his father's executor of will and who callously discarded Lara (Julie Christie). He's sympathetic to the Revolutionaries as he is sympathetic to the downtrodden in general.

So here's the existential aspect role-playing aspect of viewing Dr. Zhivago, or any movie for that matter. You ask yourself: what character would I be? What choices would I make? What would the feckin' Wombury do? Would he be like Pasha and join the Revolution? Would he be like Yuri, or the Rich Dude? So many choices. What would Jesus do? Would Jesus join the Revolution? Would he be a healer like Yuri?

If you say "no" you're a Republican. Republicans don't understand Jesus, but liberals don't understand Christianity. Didn't Jesus say, "As you do to the least among us, you do to me."

There are no Revolutions without Jesus,

Until Then,

The Wombury