Movies - Lawrence of Arabia

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	Movies - Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia is an Academy Award-winning film based, with some licence, on the life of T. E. Lawrence, starring Peter O'Toole as the title character, directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel, from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. (Lean and Spiegel had recently completed the acclaimed film The Bridge on the River Kwai
). The score by Maurice Jarre and the on-location, 70 mm widescreen, color cinematography are especially acclaimed.

The film revolves around Lawrence's attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. Apart from the film's depiction of Lawrence's life while in World War I Arabia, major cinematic themes include Lawrence's emotional struggles with violence in war (especially between Arabic tribes and while slaughtering so much of the Turkish army), personal identity ("Who are you?" is a recurring line throughout the film), and devotion to either his native Britain, and its army, or his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes, to whom he is profoundly and personally drawn.

Nearly everyone had an opportunity to express their amazement with the scale and spectacle of the film, as it was always shown with an intermission in the middle of the 70 mm version, where patrons went outside to smoke. Audiences were mesmerized by the haunting widescreen scenes of the desert and the 6 channel stereophonic, sound & music score. "You would expect to comb sand out of your hair after the show," typified the palpable buzz that built up about the film.

Shooting began on May 15, 1961 and ended on October 20, 1962. The desert scenes were shot not only in Jordan and Morocco, but also in Almería and Doñana, Spain. The film premiered in London on December 10, 1962, and was released in the USA on December 16, 1962.

The film runs 216 minutes (in the most recent Director's Cut) and includes no women in speaking roles.

The style of filming was an inspiration for Richard Attenborough's 1982 film Gandhi
. Both films open with the lead character's death and then move into a flashback into their lives.

As an interesting bit of trivia, Kenneth Alford's piece The Voice of the Guns (1917) is prominently featured on the soundtrack. One of Alford's other pieces, the Colonel Bogey March, was the theme song for Lean's previous film, Bridge on the River Kwai.

Upon its original release, Lawrence was (like Kwai) both a stunning critical and box office success, and remains very popular with the public and critics alike to this day. Its visual style has influenced innumerable directors, from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to Sam Peckinpah and Martin Scorsese. It is today regarded as a masterpiece of world cinema and is often featured highly among 'best-of' critical lists.

Real-Life And Fictional Characters

The historical accuracy of the film, and particularly its portrayal of Lawrence himself, have been called to question by numerous historical scholars . Most of the film's characters are either real or based on real characters, to varying degrees. The events depicted in the film are largely based on accepted historical fact and Lawrence's own writing about events, though they have various degrees of romanticization.

The main perceived problems with the portrayal of Lawrence begin with the differences in his physical appearance: 6 foot 2 inch Peter O'Toole was quite a contrast with the real Lawrence, who was almost nine inches shorter. His behavior, however, has caused much more debate. The screenwriters made prominent Lawrence's alleged masochism, which did not become apparent until after his capture at Deraa, and egotism. Lawrence's homosexuality, the evidence for which has mostly been gleaned through his writings, is also broadly hinted at.

The film's portrayal of General Allenby as a cynical, manipulative superior to Lawrence is not entirely accurate either. Allenby and Lawrence respected and liked each other, and Lawrence once said of Allenby that he was "an admiration of mine". and later that " physically large and confident, and morally so great that the comprehension of our littleness came slow to him". Allenby, for his part, remarked upon Lawrence's death that "I have lost a good friend and a valued comrade. Lawrence was under my command, but, after acquainting him with my strategical plan, I gave him a free hand. His co-operation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign." (Contrast this to the fictional Allenby's words at Lawrence's funeral in the film.) It seems likely that this characterization of Allenby is in large part due to the screenwriters' anti-war sentiments.

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