Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Written November 6th, 2017

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"If somebody comes up to you and says he wants to make a film that's four hours long, with no stars, and no women, and no love story, and not much action either, and he wants to spend a huge amount of money to go film it in the desert—what would you say?" This quote said by the late Egyptian actor Omar Sharif best describes the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia. This major motion picture retells the story of T.E. Lawrence (played by Peter O'Toole), a young British lieutenant who sets off across the vast Arabian desert along with Sherif Ali (played by Omar Sharif) to serve as a middleman between British and Arab forces in the revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

	One of the main elements that makes this film stand out was Lean's use of a 70mm lens to capture wide expansive shots of the desert landscape which was more apparent in the first act of the film with Lawrence's trip across the desert to see Prince Feisal, and the journey to Aqaba to claim it from Turkish territory. The use of a wide camera lens gives a panoramic view of the desert scenery reducing the characters traveling across the land to nothing but small specks, which also emphasizes how long of a journey our main hero is on. Another thing which is also worth mentioning is O'Toole's outstanding portrayal of T.E. Lawrence and his distinctive character development throughout the film. Around the beginning of the film when Lawrence begins his journey, he is first shown as a diligent young man who is quite eager to break away from British society and immerse himself in Arabic lifestyle and culture, his charismatic and humble personality causes the Arab soldiers (particularly Ali and the two desert urchins) to flock around him which seems to parallel Jesus Christ and his disciples. However shortly after conquering Aqaba, Lawrence notices how he's looked up to by the Arab soldiers which corrupts his modesty and makes him become more arrogant and imperious. In one scene after a successful raid on a Turkish train, the crowd of soldiers follow Lawrence as he walks on top of the train and cheers his name, in response Lawrence flaunts about to the crowd as if wants them to worship him until he suddenly gets injured by a Turkish soldier who barely survived the raid. Despite the injury, Lawrence brushes it off as if it was only a mere scratch and says, "They can only kill me with a golden bullet."
	
	Despite the film's breathtaking scenery and the outstanding acting and characterizations courtesy of the actors Lean had picked out, Lawrence of Arabia still happens to suffer from one major flaw. Although half of the film was shot on location in Jordan and there were plenty of Arabic locals who were willing to take part in the film as extras, David Lean still decided to take Alec Guiness and Anthony Quinn, one British and one Mexican-American, have them put on brown face paint and act as Arabs instead. The most common excuses I hear regarding this rather racist manner is that there weren't that many well known Arabic actors back then, however I find this argument to be rather weak. Again there were plenty of locals who came onto the set to be extras and I'm certain there probably were some that could play the role of Prince Feisal and Auda Abu Tayi just as well as Guiness or Quinn could do. And while Omar Sharif may have been the only actor that was well known in the west at that time, surely there must have been other actors that were quite popular in the middle east that could have deserved exposure to a western audience, but I digress.
	
	For a historical epic that is nearly three hours long, Lawrence of Arabia may not be a film to recommend to your average moviegoer. However if you are someone who can appreciate the historical legacy of the real T.E. Lawrence and the Arab revolt, someone who can catch on to certain camera techniques and minute details within a film, or somebody with way to much time on their hands and wants to watch a good enough movie that will stick with them, then Lawrence of Arabia might just be the film for you, that is if you're able to sit yourself down for three whole hours.