#7 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)

"I pray that I may never see the desert again. Hear me God!"

---T.E. Lawrence

   Lawrence of Arabia is known for its beautiful photography of desert landscapes and for its long shots of seemingly nothingness followed by a revelation of some remarkable person just beyond the horizon.  Most critics are impressed by the magnitude and epicness of the film, not to mention the classic story of an underdog rising to power in an unexpected way.  For some, this movie seems to drag on and on, with endless scenes of desert terrain with little or no action for long periods of time.  I think this is part of director David Lean’s brilliance in creating the atmosphere of the story: the characters themselves are experiencing long stretches of desert with little or no action.  The audience relates to the characters' disparity and sense of endless journey.  

   There are no romantic relationships in Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, but the film is still about love.  The love in this case is the love of one man for himself.  Real-life British officer T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is portrayed in this film as an egotistical, eccentric, and brash young man who gains the admiration and respect from the Arabian people while denied it from his own British countrymen.  He literally rises above the people who chant his name as he stands on top of train and does a victory dance to proclaim his role as a pseudo-savior of the Middle East.  Lawrence is successful in uniting various Arabian tribes against the Turks who have invaded their land, and for that he is rewarded with respect and honor.  He is even proclaimed to be more Arab than British by Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif), a leader of one of the desert tribes, and is revered by opposing desert tribe leader Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn).

   At the beginning of the film, the first thing we learn about Lawrence is that he died in a motorcycle accident.  At his funeral, a reporter asking the attendees is startled to find that no one really knew him that well, despite supposedly working with him.  We learn throughout the film that the reason for this is because he gave more of himself to the Arab people than to the British army he represented.  In return he becomes almost like a god to these people, an honor he laps up like a cat drinking milk.  His arrogance is best shown in the scenes where the American reporter is taking photographs of him during the war: Lawrence is posing for the supposedly candid shots.  The most interesting part of his character is when Lawrence is overwhelmed by his power and tries to turn away from it by re-joining the British army camp in the desert.  His inner conflict of self-preservation versus leadership is what holds the audience until the end.  Although Lawrence would have loved the fact that he was the center of this story because of his huge ego, he did actually make for a pretty interesting character study.

FUN FACT: Prince Feisal is played by Sir Alec Guinness, the future Obi Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars!

FAVORITE QUOTE: "A man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth. But a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it." 

---Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains)