Director: David Lean
Grade: A
Majestic. Therein is the best word I can think of to describe David Lean’s 1962 masterpiece, Lawrence of Arabia. If there was only one word to describe Lawrence of Arabia from a visual and narrative standpoint, I think I can safely declare that majestic would be the word I would use.. I will admit: I cannot really describe the beauty of this film, but I suppose that ‘majestic’ could sum it all up.
I was surprised that the film opened with the death of its protagonist. Following the early scenes depicting his death and subsequent funeral, Lean shifts the film’s narrative to a standpoint of portraying the famous man of the title role’s exploits in Arabia. As we are quick to find out, World War I is on all over Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We are also soon to learn that the movie is going to focus on the Middle Eastern theater of war where the British are holding out against overwhelming Turkish armies. The British, with troops already tied down fighting the Germans in Europe, reluctantly have little to commit to the Middle East. Therefore, they find a resolution to their problems in that they can unite the Bedouin Arab tribes to form a unified front against the Turks. The question is how they can accomplish this, and who they can get to accomplish it.
They find their answer in T.E. Lawrence, an eccentric but brilliant military officer who takes it upon himself to unite the tribes. In the process, he comes to find that the desert is his real home. When asked by a Bedouin what his home country England is like, he replies that it is very ‘fat’. The Bedouin replies, “but you are not fat!” “No,” is Lawrence’s straightforward answer. Later, when asked by someone else what he thinks of the desert, Lawrence states that it is very ‘clean’. This sets the contrasting nature of Lawrence’s opinions of his home country versus that of Arabia, and is what ultimately defines a large portion of Lawrence’s character.
The movie itself really becomes one long crusade: not of the Middle Eastern theater of war, but of the life of Lawrence. He's a different kind of champion then what we are used to; he isn't exactly that heroic figure who comes in and saves the day, and then rides off into the sunset. By the film's end, Lawrence is in a staff car, riding out of his beloved desert, presumably en route to England. He's obviously become a disconolate individual for his failure in successfully uniting the Arabs at the very end, but when we look back over the long account of his life as represented on screen, it comes to us that he was more then a desolate being as he may of thought himself to be, for his successess surely did outweight his errors in routing the Turks: he was a brilliant military tactician who was able to improvise and use the sparse resources at his disposal to trounce his numerically superior foes.
Director Lean has proven himself to be a master of epic filmmaking, a director who is able to mercilessly combine together almost inconceivable production value with a truly marvelous tale of significant importance. The result is lucratively turning a vision into a real piece of work. He must have had that vision for Lawrence of Arabia, arguably his most strikingly powerful work. For instance, pieces of Lawrence of Arabia are visually memorable, including the all-encompassing panorama shots of the vast, desert landscape coupled with the sweeping music. It’s all in due course to Lean, who comes to vibrantly depict the desert as Earthly Heaven, at least as seen through the eyes of Lawrence himself.
Something that deserves equal attention is the excellent performance delivered in high-caliber form from Peter O’Toole, who vividly portrays his character as the man who both resented and relished in his time in battle. But something of equal importance is just how intensely and extensively this film digs into its main character. Honestly, onscreen biographies are difficult pictures to make, and if they are to be made, then they should be made out of all honesty to its principal character. Lawrence of Arabia and the 1970 film Patton are probably the two most mesmerizing and deep film biographies that come to mind, even if Lawrence of Arabia’s brilliance outshines Patton only in the departments of how visually impressive a film can ever get to be.
Lawrence of Arabia is still a high-quality movie that should be reserved for the most serious movie goers. As a film that effortlessly combines strong, straightforward but true narrative with visionary appeal, Lawrence of Arabia is immensely gratifying, for if there are flaws to be counted in Lawrence of Arabia, then they should be taken as minor. Upon watching Lawrence of Arabia, I realized something, but I didn’t come to realize it further until typing this review, and that is that Lawrence of Arabia is one of the finest works of cinematic art. A
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