Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Nothing is written!
THE SUMMARY: A metrosexual WWI British officer meddles in Arab affairs while condemning other British officers for meddling in Arab affairs, puts on one of those headdress things to become Arab Dances with Wolves, and then leaves the Arab world and dies in a much-anticipated motorcycle crash. Forget Sadiq Khan - Lawrence of Arabia is the original gay muzzie terrorist.
In fairness, this was among the worst weeks for me to watch this movie. The tasks of moving required me to break up viewing into four sittings. Still, Lawrence takes at least twice the time to tell a mediocre story that it should. In fact, I already forgot most of it. But I guess I’m wrong, since this is the second longest movie ever to win Best Picture.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER TONY: The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united the warring Arab tribes during World War I to fight the Turks. Watch Peter O’Toole’s dismissal of a mercenary popular journalist: ‘never seen a man killed by a sword before. Why don’t you take a picture? Wish I had.’
THE BEST:
Very well-shot: Despite my common complaints about establishing or setting shots that take forever and generally make movies needlessly longer (and Lawrence has plenty), overall the movie captures the vastness of the desert in dramatic ways, especially for a movie of its age. In particular, the ‘night’ shots with sand blowing across the dunes are impressive. I use quotation marks because these shots were not actually filmed at night - they were produced using the ‘day for night’ technique, but that’s no more ‘cheating’ than today’s digital effects. It still required cinematic skill, and these shots look nearly as good as any you’d see today.
Great soundtrack: At some point, I’ve encountered Lawrence’s theme song because I knew the melody as soon as I heard it. I’m less familiar with this composer Maurice Jarre than John Williams, but the work is certainly on par with the best of the industry. Dramatic, catchy, and instantly recognizable.
An understanding that tribal warfare is futile: Even though I’m not a fan of Lawrence’s Middle Eastern meddling as I’ll discuss below, I think his diagnosis of the problems of the Arab world is largely correct - tribal warfare is futile. Playing only for teams, and not for larger moral truths, is a misprioritization, and results not just in missed opportunities, but destruction.
‘So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long they will be a little people,’ Lawrence says to Sherif Ali upon their meeting and Ali’s murder of Tafas at the well. It doesn’t mean that all enemies are invalid. It does mean we should make enemies for moral reasons, not simply team designations.
No women talk: You’d think a movie this long would require female dialogue, but no - in fact, not a single woman speaks in the nearly four-hour entirety of Lawrence of Arabia. Not. One. It is believed to be the longest movie ever made without a woman in a speaking role.
Very beautiful camera work
Very beautiful orchestra work
THE WORST:
Spare me the paternalism: Part of my irritation is Lawrence’s character, and part of it is the role he’s playing in the conflict - he’s a douchebag who thinks it’s his right to fix everyone’s problems for them. Throughout the movie, Lawrence constantly praises himself for his own magnificence. 'I am extraordinary.’ Oh, good for you! Making it even more insufferable, almost everyone else in the movie is constantly admiring Lawrence too. It makes for a boring character without flaws, or at least flaws unseen by himself or others.
But the real problem is Lawrence views his own excellence as license, or even obligation, to control the destiny of the Arabs. It’s not Arab self-determination that he values - it’s his own guidance of them. Lawrence may be right in many of his values, but that’s not the question. The question is should Arabs control Arab destiny, for better or for worse, or not?
It’s plainly obvious that Lawrence views himself not just as a supporter of a pre-existing Arab cause, but as some sort of paternal guide for their greater good. About both taking Damascus and gaining Arab freedom, Lawrence says ‘I am going to give [it to] them.’ Not ‘they will take Damascus, and earn their freedom, and I will help them.’ That’s a subtle scripting difference with a big philosophical distinction: one is Lawrence leading Arabs, the other is Arabs leading Arabs.
It’s a big distinction according to the movie’s own plot, by the way. In the end, Damascus is taken, but Arab bickering leaves the city to British control anyway. So even if we grant that Lawrence has the right values in mind, it means nothing if the Arabs don’t want those things for themselves. It can’t be forced upon them.
How is this British business, again?: On a related theme, I’m not saying you can’t tell a story that’s (very loosely) historical, or that only movies with admirable heroes or plotlines are good, it’s just that this movie presents the western meddling in the Arab world as a positive thing. I’m supposed to root for Lawrence to teach these backward tribesmen to get it, as though that’s a valiant or worthwhile effort. It’s not. Stay home, and worry about London instead. In a century’s time, ironically, the Arabs will be coming over to join you there and tell you how to live anyway.
For the love of God, hurry up: For a movie to be nearly four hours, there better be a damn good reason. For Lawrence, there just isn’t. It’s a marathon of needlessly long musical interludes, walks across the desert that might as well be at Moses’ actual pace, and dialogue that takes an eternity to make its point, among other turtle walks and snail crawls.
Yes, I know - iT’s FrOm a DiFFeReNT ErA! Yeah - and that era sucked.
Only big daddy Lawrence can quell the Arab chaos
THE RATING: 2/5 Wickies. Painfully drawn out in a way that dilutes the value the movie does have. No chance I’ll ever watch again, because I’d miss half my kids’ childhood if I did.
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NEXT WEEK: Citizen Kane (1941)
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