Essentials: Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is a bit of an oddity everywhere its title is listed. Considered by the American Film Institute to be among the best American films, Lawrence of Arabia is hardly an American film. Its protagonist is decidedly British and the film was a co-production between Horizon Pictures in London and Columbia Pictures in Hollywood. In addition, the British Film Institute also claims it as its own, so there’s that.

America stop stealing our fucking movies!!!

While considered an epic and features breathtaking natural vistas, the film is an epic quite unlike any other. Lawrence of Arabia isn’t Gone with the Wind (1939) and it’s certainly not a production of the Hollywood hagiographical machine churned by Cecil B. DeMille. It’s a movie that has no equal and apart from maybe The English Patient (1996) has no real imitators either.

The film is based on the true story of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole), a British intelligence officer who fermented Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks during WWI. Lawrence is considered a very controversial figure both in his native Britain and in the Arabian Peninsula. His personality alone isolated him from his fellow officers in the British Army who found his assuredness awkward. When he gained the loyalties of King Faisal (Alec Guinness) and helped unite Arab tribes under the Arab National Council to occupy Damascus, the British and the French became worried of his intentions and reined him in.

Those who know the history of the region will recall that after the events depicted in the movie, the French occupied Lebanon in 1920 thus fulfilling the Sykes-Picot agreement. The Arab National Council was disbanded in 1930 though were never the most competent administrators, and the region didn’t enjoy the fruits of free determination until the 1940’s.

...And nothing bad ever happened in the region again.

While politics and political brinksmanship is an aspect of Lawrence of Arabia it isn’t the only aspect, or even the most important theme in David Lean’s masterpiece. Lawrence of Arabia aspires to embolden the unconventional. To make us aware of an individual who, while being a small cog in a big machine, was too unique to be replaced, altered or replicated. The famous tableau in which Lawrence slowly moves towards the frame from a mile away against the harshness of the desert is a visual metaphor of such an aspiring theme.

Heck, even Peter O’Toole’s physical shape and body language is a visual metaphor for the value of unconventionality. His frame is lanky and frail and his body language and speech patterns balance between discreet and cocksure. Yet while his physical appearance is the antipathy of modesty, his every action is done with grandeur. While everything he says is said softly, what he says is self-assured. He has the heart of Othello born in the body of Iago.

At 216 minutes long, Lawrence of Arabia may not be for the huddled masses populating today’s movie theaters, but the film has been a must see for the last 50 years for good reason. Anyone who claims to love films and does not like Lawrence of Arabia must loose all credibility. Tough talk coming from someone who didn’t think 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was all that and a packet of bubble gum. But the plain truth of the matter is Lawrence of Arabia is a masterpiece in storytelling, in filmmaking, in entertainment and in artistry. The fact that it’s an hours-long sprawling epic just makes it all the more impressive and all the more required viewing.

Final Grade: A