11/06/10 - Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia (1962, 227 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056172/

This satisfies my "Non-Native November" theme since the film is technically a UK release. I'd wanted to see it for some time mainly because it is one of the films that almost always gets the word "epic" attached to it for its grandiose scope and scale. Usually I like these kind of movies so I was hoping for the best here.

The film follows T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) throughout his life during the Arabian campaign of World War I. Featuring prominently in the political sphere are Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness) for the Arabs and General Allenby (Jack Hawkins) and Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains) for the Europeans. On the guerrilla warfare front for the Arabs there also is Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) and Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif).

Easily the best thing about the movie for me was O'Toole's performance. We see the rise and the fall of Lawrence so well and that's mostly due to O'Toole's fantastic acting job. I like to point out when actors "act with their eyes" which I use to mean when they do a lot of acting through motions and facial expressions and the like. Sure, O'Toole delivers lots of great dialogue but it's in these little things where he really embraces the role of Lawrence. I've read that a lot of people didn't like him personally as the choice of Lawrence (mainly due to a nine inch height difference and his general good looks) but for the sake of a movie I think he works really well. The other standouts are the Arab fighters played by Quinn and Sharif. I really liked these characters and a big reason was because of the large personalities given them by their respective actors.

Naturally, the scale of Lawrence of Arabia is gigantic. It's the longest movie I've seen in quite some time. Sadly, I watched it at my apartment and not in a theater. This is one of those movies that requires being seen in a theater on the big screen. Just like with Avatar last year, it's impossible to get the true feel of a movie like this from a home cinema, no matter how lavish it may be. The other thing is that with the luxury of having a "Pause" button I can stop the movie for whatever. This actually made my viewing time closer to four hours and somewhat hurt the overall experience (and this was with the ten minute intermission cut out). Anyway, I think next time I watch this movie - which I most surely will do one day - I will make it a point to watch it on a Blu-ray and throw the remote far away so that I won't be tempted. Really this paragraph doesn't contribute much to the ranking or that, but it's something I want to keep in mind for when I watch it again.

Next, AFI voted this the #1 film in the Epic genre in their rankings a few years back. Like I said, the movie unquestionably belongs there but I don't think I'd say it's the best epic ever. Something like Saving Private Ryan or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King both are better for me. However, I think a huge factor in this is that Lawrence of Arabia has aged pretty poorly. Ben-Hur is also an epic but one that I've heard most film buffs watch just so they can say "Yeah, I've watched Ben-Hur." While I don't think Lawrence of Arabia is a bad movie by any definition, I think it was probably substantially more enjoyable to watch when compared with other movies from 1962 than it is when compared with everything that's come since then. Naturally, I have to take this into account in my score.

I feel I've written a lot about the movie and not much of substance at this point. What did I like and what didn't I like? Well, for starters, the political aspects of the story were somewhat confusing to me. Maybe this is because I usually just find political talk in this sort of movie to be boring but I thought the scenes involving the higher-ups in the military to be overall lacking. On the flip side, I thought the scenes with Lawrence out with the Arabs were fantastic. I think these scenes truly capture this side of Lawrence more than the political scenes capture that side of him. And this aspect of the movie is what I found most engrossing: the fall of Lawrence. From the beginning (well, from the scenes after his death that is) Lawrence gradually ascends as he comes off extremely likable. I think the highlight of this is when he turns back to get Gasim in the desert and risks his life. The subsequently successful attack on Aqaba only heightens how awesome the character is. But then he begins a downward spiral. As I didn't really know what the movie was about, I know that on my second watch I would focus on these parts of Lawrence - little things that built up over time to make him crumble. He's built up as a hero and by the end he departs with both sides saying they are glad to have him gone. This roller coaster ride of ups and downs was enjoyable to watch and would only be more enjoyable on another view.

Overall, I gave this film an 8/10. Lawrence of Arabia reminds me of The Longest Day in some ways. There, I had to give it a rating basically ignoring fifty-plus years of film because it seemed so awesome compared to everything else out there. The same is somewhat true of this movie. While I thought there were some flaws and some boring parts, that doesn't mean the movie was bad by any definition. In fact, any movie where I pretty much guarantee a rewatch deserves some points for that.