Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Directed by: David Lean | 228 minutes | drama, war, adventure | Actors: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy

All the accolades and superlatives ever given to ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ are well deserved: it’s a “miracle of a movie”, to say Spielberg, and a “timeless classic”, as actor Omar Sharif at the end of a documentary about the film, states. No matter how many years pass, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ remains a beautiful and powerful film, and a true epic.

The film opens in a similar way to that other classic, ‘Citizen Kane’. We see how the main character dies, and then some people speak who knew him, wanted to know him, or shook hands with him once. As with Charles Foster Kane, everyone has strong opinions about Lawrence, both positive and negative, but no one seems to really know him. And just like in ‘Citizen Kane’, the rest of the film is devoted to showing the turbulent life of this mysterious, mythical protagonist.

This is about Lieutenant TE Lawrence, who actually existed, but whose story has been made a little more romantic for Lean’s film. It may be an advantage that few viewers know how Lawrence’s life really turned out, but even if it were a well-known phenomenon, it wouldn’t detract from the artistry displayed in this brilliant film. The charismatic Lawrence is played by a, as usual, excellent acting Peter O’Toole, who keeps you captivated from the first frame to the last. Lawrence is an eccentric. In the officers’ mess he just walks around with his cap on (phew!), rams a neatly arranged group of billiard balls with another ball on the table, and when asked by a superior, after saluting too late, or he’s just ill-mannered or off-putting, he says he’s wondering this to himself too. When he is snapped after the billiards incident that he is a clown, he says that not everyone can be a lion tamer. But Lawrence turns out to be both. He is graceful, intelligent, powerful, and funny. A winning combination when he gets to Arabia, it turns out. There they are charmed by his appearance and impressed by his perseverance and persuasiveness. Lawrence gladly accepts his task of going into the desert to assess the situation; it seems “nice” to him.

However, Lawrence does more than just observe and report. He has his own ideas about the state and future of Arabia. He believes that the Arab peoples should work together and fight for one great Arabia, instead of fighting each other and continuing to live under the yoke of the Turks. The moment is wonderful after he has left the tent of Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness) and with an intense expression on his face is determined to come up with a solution to the conflict with the Turks. From late at night to early morning he stands in one spot in the desert, sitting, thinking, while a strong wind blows waves of sand by. Two boys watch him, and roll a stone down a hill towards him, to see if there is still some life in the man. Slowly, the rock taps against Lawrence’s back, who slowly picks it up, stands up, throws the rock a few times, then holds it tight as he suddenly exclaims the answer to his questions: Aqaba! Lawrence plans to attack the coastal city of Aqaba by land, and when he crosses a group of men across the Nefud Desert, after turning around alone to retrieve one of his camel fallen man, he earns the respect of Feisal’s clan, who at that time currently led by Sheriff Ali (Omar Sharif). “El Lawrence” (or “Awrence”), is given Arabic clothes by a sheikh, including a dagger and a beautiful white robe, which he is as happy as a child. He runs with it like a bird through the desert, laughing lightly at himself and letting out cries of joy. From this point his fame only grows and he manages to get the entire Arab people behind him. His star is rising, but his compassion and affinity for the Arab people remains unabated. When he has achieved a great victory, he, along with a boy he has taken under his wing, goes to report it to his superiors in Cairo. A very powerful and moving moment is when he arrives here exhausted, completely haggard but determined to give the boy a drink in the officers’ bar and offer a clean bed, despite all the condescending remarks towards this “brown whore”. This scene was replayed later in ‘The Last Samurai’. And when one wonders in the film whether Lawrence has become an Arab, the similarities between ‘Dances With Wolves’ and this film suddenly stand out. In Cairo, his superiors do not know what they are hearing, and send him back, with quite a few weapons, to continue his “good work”. He is closely followed by an American journalist who is looking for a hero to motivate his country to join the war against Germany. Lawrence himself also comes to believe in his own myth more and more. It seems that he cannot be killed when a Turkish train robbery victim tries to shoot him from about ten meters away, but misses repeatedly. Lawrence: “I can only be killed with a golden bullet”. His person gets (also from himself) Biblical proportions, with comparisons with Moses and Jesus. He once jokes that when he walks through a pool of water, he chuckles softly, as it looks like he’s walking over it. The flip side of all this is that he begins to take pleasure not only in his worship and the seeming limitlessness of his own abilities, but also in power and acts of violence per se. Arriving in Cairo, he tells that he does not want to go back, because he has observed this frightening emotion in himself. However, he continues, and the emotion returns in a chilling way in the famous scene where Lawrence rushes into a convoy of Turks after he uses the words, “No Prisoners!” cried out, full of fire and bloodlust in his eyes. In Lawrence with this we see all the good and bad things that come out in people during times of war and hard battle. Great deeds, both tactical and humanistic, can happen, but they almost always come at a cost: numbness and aggressive fanaticism. Elements that are hidden in people and, for better or for worse, usually only come out in extreme situations.

The film is called ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and this character, as played by O’Toole, is truly the film. This isn’t to say the rest of the cast isn’t impressing, though. Far from it. Omar Sharif is charismatic as Ali, the Harif member who is initially skeptical of Lawrence and later becomes his closest friend. While his behavior isn’t flawless throughout the film, he functions well as the film’s moral anchor, trying to keep Lawrence in line when things get too crazy. Alec Guinness plays the shrewd Prince Feisal with gusto, with an accent borrowed from Sharif’s natural speech. And Anthony Quinn disappears in his role as the hot-tempered, but certainly reasonable Auda Abu Thayi. He knows how to dose his tendency to overact and use it to good results for this exuberant bandit, who has beautiful dialogue such as: “I’m a river to my people”, and “Thy mother mated with a scorpion”. The look of the film definitely deserves separate mention. What beautiful locations. Often filmed in Jordan, we see beautiful sandy plains with hills and rocks as a backdrop for the puny people who try to move here on foot or on camels. When Lawrence has to cross the Nefud Desert, it is beautiful to see how immense the plains they have to cross. And the herds of camels and horses, whether they are filmed in stunning fashion. The attack on Aqaba is truly exciting and dynamic, and a group of sleeping camels are beautifully spread across the widescreen. Few can use this widescreen format as well as David Lean shows in this film. And the editing is equally inspired, with the creative highlight being the jump-cut of Lawrence blowing out a cigarette in Cairo to the sunrise in the desert. Add to this the enchanting music of Maurice Jarre, which is both bombastic and subtle, and always compelling, and you’re dealing with nothing less than a masterpiece, untouchable by the ravages of time. David Lean’s classic is very accessible and extremely satisfying in many ways. A film, in short, that no one should pass up.