Verdict:
It took me about five minutes of screen time to realize that I was probably going to like this movie. Key behind that realisation was the introduction of the main character of the film. Peter O’Toole plays an intelligent and cheeky Thomas Lawrence “Lawrence of Arabia” with an exquisitely charming arrogance.
Lawrence of Arabia is a phenomenal looking film. Scenes contract and grow to show scale or introduce characters. A small speckle of a man on horizon with quiet music in the background grows into a riding warrior with a roar of the main theme. The film fully showcases the majestic desert. And although having a large quantity of actors is not a merit, it sure does make an impression when a few hundred of them charge on horseback. This film can fill a person with wanderlust.
Music plays a very important part in the presentation. The theme of Lawrence of Arabia is instantly recognizable. Unfortunately, the main hook of the theme does overstay its welcome as it comes back at the slightest opportunity, albeit in a slight variation.
If there is one word for this film, it is “epic”. it is so in every way. When it comes to the story, the Arab uprising during World War I was of importance to the outcome of the war and he subsequent history. In the way of visuals, there are large battles in the massive desert. In the way of characters, you get flamboyant historical leaders. This film is so epic it is one of those movies that has an overture and an intermission with an entr’acte.
A cool thing about Lawrence of Arabia is how relevant it still is. “So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe,” he said, “so long will they be a little people, a silly people”. No offense to the Arab readers, but those who are aware of the current state of affairs know that this still applies. The general themes in the film are timeless, much like the desert itself.
So is it perfect? No, it has a number of unnatural moments in its story. There is a character in this film who is shown to be a cold and unpleasant person, but over a fairly short period of time he is suddenly transformed into a good guy and the protagonist goes from hating him to being his friend. The way Lawrence persuades another hostile character to join him later on also still puzzles me.
This film puts Thomas Lawrence on a pedestal. The man is portrayed as half god, almost always right and successful. “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away” is actually a plot point in this movie. The main character does get humbled at one point, but only for a short time. I understand that this character thinks much of himself but the movie clearly agrees with his high self-assessment. This handling of character is not necessarily a flaw on its own, but it adds to the aforementioned unnatural feel this movie sometimes has.
Also, as you may imagine, the God treatment could be somewhat offensive to religious people, historians and Arabs in general. There is a central theme in this movie in which the Muslims keep indicating that “it was written” referring to predestination belief that appears in both Muslim and Christian faiths, but Lawrence keeps indicating and proving through his acts that nothing is written for him, and seemingly convincing those around him of this. Lawrence indirectly compares himself to Moses and his servants tell him “It shall be so, Lord,” as he wears his white robes. Meanwhile, one of the Arab chieftains is shown to be greedy and many Arabs are shown to be barbaric. The historical relevance and impact of Lawrence’s appears to be greatly overstated for the sake of the movie. In reality, most Arabs haven’t even heard of this white dude.
Nevertheless, Lawrence of Arabia is one of the most interesting films of all time and stays with you after you are done watching it.