Lawrence of Arabia

While in film school, I heard about this film but did not get a chance to see it until it had a special theatrical showing for its 50th anniversary. Until that time, I did not know that "Lawrence of Arabia" was based on a true story. I had a wonderful time enjoying its epic scale and the acting performances. Some liberties were taken with the story of Lawrence but the end product follows a very useful narrative pattern. The musical score, although its main theme was a little overused, did wonders in creating its epic persona. The cinematography and editing also made the film what it is today.

The great cinematic heroes are usually virtuous and have a clear personality. Instead, Lawrence is hard to read by his fellow characters and also by the film's audience. Lawrence therefore resembles Hamlet from the Shakespearean play in that even today, there is an ongoing debate as to whether Hamlet is pretending to be mad as he says or he really is mad. Even by the end of the movie, you can't tell exactly what kind of man Lawrence is. We can tell however that he has both good and bad qualities. Another comparison to Shakespeare is that the story of "Lawrence of Arabia" follows the narrative pattern of a Shakespearean tragedy. In act 1, we are introduced to the main character and the setting. Act 2 contains the inciting incident and Act 3 has our main character make his first fatal error in which he looses control of his situation. Act 4 contains either more mistakes or at least a diminuendo leading up to Act 5 where the hero meets a tragic end. Another famous narrative that may come to mind, especially as the movie begins, is "Citizen Kane". I love the opening half of the movie. The movie starts out with the death of our main character and the rest of the film is a flashback to answer the questions that were asked after his death. I love the cut from the match to the desert. It is one of those moments that everyone remembers from this movie. It can be argued that this is a smash cut because the audience doesn't really expect it. Sherif Ali's entrance is quite powerful because of how long it is. There is great suspense as he approaches. I love the scene at the oasis where Lawrence accepts the services of the two teenage boys, Farraj and Daud. My favorite moment in the whole film is Lawrence's rescue of Gasim. The cinematography and music are responsible for how entertaining this is, as well as the acting between Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif. Both actors by the way received Oscar nominations. Those shots of Gasim alone on the flat desert are quite powerful. I love the first shot of him because the timing with the sunrise is perfect. In terms of the music, I love it a lot in this movie but I felt that the main theme was a little overused. Other composers take a theme and orchestrate it differently so as to create variety in the musical score but composer Maurice Jarre didn't employ that technique very much. I liked the plot point of Lawrence having to kill Gasim. It heightened the stakes of the story very effectively. Lawrence has no choice because a divided army cannot take Aqaba. The second half of the movie was quite depressing, more so than "Hamlet", "Macbeth" or any other Shakespearean tragedy. This is where "Lawrence of Arabia" starts to more resemble "Citizen Kane". Because of the first part of the film, we have become fond of Lawrence due to his heroic acts and triumphs. He displays some selflessness and that is rare quality for a tragic figure. This makes his fall from glory all the more catastrophic. When Lawrence kills Farraj, it begins his tragic fall. The youthful innocence that Farraj has was not found in Gasim. Another fatal mistake is when Lawrence enlists mercenaries in his quest for Damascus instead of those motivated by the Arab cause. Lawrence's robe when he first puts it on in the first act contrasts that of his new Arab comrades. He is more pure than they are but as the movie progresses, his robe becomes unclean. This is ironic because Lawrence likes the desert because it is clean. The use of a Cockney driver at the end of the film is perfect. His accent symbolizes how far Lawrence has fallen. Lawrence was a great leader of the Arabs but will spend the rest of his life as a useless colonel back where he started.

The casting of the film could not have been any better. I am amazed that this is Peter O'Toole's first major role. He looks so much like the real Lawrence. O'Toole has eight Oscar nominations to date in his career and that makes him the most nominated actor without winning. Even though he has won an Honorary Oscar, I feel that it doesn't count as much as winning an actual acting Academy Award. O'Toole's first nomination came for his work as Lawrence but going up against Gregory Peck's performance in "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a quest unto itself. I am not surprised that Peck won that year. I have only seen three of O'Toole's many movies but my favorite performance of his continues to be his voice acting on "Ratatouille". Alec Guinness, who had won an Oscar from "The Bridge on the River Kwai", was amazing as Prince Faisal. During the filming in Jordan, Guinness was mistaken for the real prince. Omar Sharif, who plays Ali, helped Guinness with his accent and the performance was so impressive in my opinion. I believed his accent. Sharif was also really good in "Lawrence of Arabia" as was Anthony Quinn. Quinn's costume and makeup was very impressive. The fact that this film includes Shakespearean actors such as Anthony Quayle, Guinness and O'Toole himself contributes to the comparison that can be made. Though there is historical inaccuracy with the events in the film and the character of Lawrence himself, I don't feel that it is important considering when this movie was made. The Golden Age of Hollywood wouldn't be so golden without epic settings and stories. "The Sound of Music" for example wouldn't have been very successful if it was historically accurate. Director David Lean and producer Sam Spiegel wanted to work with each other again after the success of "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and they achieved something that will remain in Hollywood's consciousness for many years to come. They did take steps to replicate some elements of the true story. The town of Aqaba was constructed painstakingly to resemble the real town's appearance back in 1917. The long panning shot of the battle portrays this set wonderfully. O'Toole found his camel saddle quite uncomfortable during production and so he bought some foam to fix the problem. Others in the movie followed suit and the locals nicknamed O'Toole "Father of the Sponge". Today, many in Jordan use foam rubber with their saddles. O'Toole even fell off his camel during the Aqaba scene but the animal protected him by standing over him as the horses of the extras rode past. This also happened to the real Lawrence during a different battle. The huge two hour musical score had to be composed in only six weeks but went on to win the Oscar for that year and it has become one of the greatest scores of all time. The American Film Institute rates it #3 on their list behind the musical scores for "Star Wars" (#1) and "Gone with the Wind" (#2). The digital restoration in 2012 was amazing on the big screen. Apparently, the resolution was so pure that fingerprints could be seen on some of the frames. This was caused by the desert heat melting the film when the crew handled it during production. These fingerprints however were removed digitally as is usual with imperfections.

"Lawrence of Arabia" is seen as one of Hollywood's greatest movies ever made. It had the most Oscar nominations that year and the most wins. As mentioned, it won the Academy Award for Best Music and Peter O'Toole was nominated for Best Actor while Omar Sharif was nominated for his supporting role. "Lawrence of Arabia" also was nominated for its screenplay but it won for art direction, cinematography, editing and sound. David Lean had many Oscar nominations throughout his career but he only won twice for directing "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and this movie. Sam Spiegel received Academy Awards for both movies as well when they won Best Picture in their respective years. "Lawrence of Arabia" is the longest movie to win Best Picture. In fact, there is less than a minute difference in the running times of this movie and "Gone With the Wind". AFI has this movie on its other lists for the greatest movies of all time (#7), for heroes (Lawrence is #10), thrilling movies (#23) and inspirational movies (#30). Finally, the AFI recognizes "Lawrence of Arabia" as the greatest epic film. It inspired many of today's famous directors such as Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The settings that were used in the film were later used in other movies. The Plaza de Espana in Seville, Spain for example was used for "Star Wars: Episode II". The use of camera, editing and the level of acting is what amazed me. I enjoy the first half of the movie more than the second and the musical score was very good. By default, it is my favorite film from 1962. The end of the film's impact can be summarized as expected by the line "nothing is written."

3.5 Stars