MovieChat Forums > Doctor Zhivago (1965) Discussion > Why did the Bolsheviks keep Zhivago so l...

Why did the Bolsheviks keep Zhivago so long?

posted 15 years ago by BobStage
7 replies | jump to latest

It's been a while since I last saw it, and I remember there being a debate over who's served their time, and thus are allowed to leave. I remember there were two men who acted like they were in charge, and one of them takes pity on Zhivago and says that he's done enough. But then the other fires back and announces "The doctor stays!" I remember feeling pissed off at the time (I was hoping Zhivago could get out) but for the life of me I can't remember exactly what reasons the guy had to justify keeping Zhivago with the troops.

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 15 years ago

Presumably Razin's reason was that the war was not yet over. Hence his line "There are still White units in this area - the Doctor stays!" He may also have kept Zhivago in the service longer as punishment for his "subversive" views.

"He has pretensions to heroism - a mental disease induced by vanity."

[–] bradford-1 14 years ago

They weren't Cossacks! They were Bolshevik guerillas.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] daryl-b-t 13 years ago

They were the red army. Not letting him go because they still needed him.

[–] DonMachiavelli 13 years ago

Hahaha Cossacks! Did the term Cossack mean "cavalrymen" or was it specifically those ethnic Steppe people who were recruited to BE cavalrymen. Maybe some were ex-Cossacks.

[–] joe-armenta 13 years ago

During the Russian Civil War, most Cossacks fought AGAINST the Reds. Many of the Cossack units enjoyed special privileges in the old Czarist military, and so they tended to support the White royalist side.

[–] mark-1589 13 years ago

I think the OP is asking the wrong question: "for the life of me I can't remember exactly what reasons the guy had to justify keeping Zhivago with the troops". As is clear from the film, the revolutionaries simply started ruling by fiat (not that the Czarist regime had not done the same thing) and never saw the need to justify anything. He was needed for their purposes - full stop.