Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

starring Peter O'Toole, Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif

directed by David Lean

228 min

During the first World War, Lieutenant T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is sent by the British Government on a mission to contact Prince Faisal (Alec Guinenss) of Iraq. His original guide on this mission is killed by Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) who then volunteers to lead him to Prince Faisal. Lawrence and Ali, under instructions from the prince, lead an expedition to Aqaba to try and retake the city. On their way there they meet Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) who is at first antagonistic towards the pair and their small strike force but later agrees to join them in the attack on Aqaba.

The storming of Aqaba is a raging success. The Turkish forces that held the city are routed. Lawrence leaves his allies in Aqaba and heads across the Sinai Peninsula to the British military command in Cairo. He convinces them to allow him to return with supplies and money.

There is an intermission at this point in the movie.

Lawrence returns to Aqaba and leads Sherif Ali, Auda Abu Tayi, and their combined troops in attacks on Turkish army units. Lawrence starts to experience doubts about what he is doing. He is careless and as a result is captured and beaten by Turkish troops. He tries unsuccessfully to preside over a meeting of various tribes of Arabs. They are all united against the Turks but having trouble finding common ground once they have achieved some measure of victory.

Lawrence eventually returns to England where a couple decades later he is killed in a motorcycle accident.

Thoughts

Turkey was allied with Germany during the First World War.

The movie is based on the real T.E. Lawrence's memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Lawrence of Arabia was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 7 of them including Best Picture and Best Director. Peter O'Toole was nominated for Best Actor but did not win. Omar Sharif was nominated for Best Supporting Actor but did not win.

The part of the movie prior to the intermission felt like an entire movie. It is move than 120 minutes in length. It feels like it is all one story. The part that takes place after the intermission is another story. That part of the movie shifts around considerably more. Lawrence experiences considerably more turmoil in the latter part of the movie. 

This was my first time watching this movie. I saw it on the big screen at the AFI Silver Theater in 70mm. Before the movie started the curtains opened wide. Music started to play. The screen was still dark. The curtains started to close. I started to wonder what was going on. I suspected that something was wrong. It all seemed to absurd to me that I started laughing. I don't think anyone else thought it was funny. I wonder if my laughter annoyed anyone.

I don't love this movie. It is very well made. The cinematography is gorgeous. I'm really not crazy about the fact that two of the three most important Arabic characters are played by English and American actors. I cringed inwardly at the way Lawrence is deified frequently by the Arabic men who served under or with him. O'Toole doesn't do enough for me. If I watch this movie again I think I will try watching it at home where I can chop it up and see it in small bite-size pieces.