 | This is the film that made Steven Spielberg want to become a director, and quite simply, one of my all-time favorite movies... if not my actual favorite entirely.
Lawrence of Arabia begins with the situation in World War I pre-Arabia -- under the anti-Islamic "yoke" of Ottoman Turkish occupation -- before Arab tribal cultures were short-sightedly "freed", unified, and established as the autonomous nation of Saudi Arabia; decades before it would follow the tragic lead of Islamic "fundamentalism" and become synonymous with horror toward all non-Islamic nations. It was truly a time when the Arab people had a unique opportunity to chart a positive course for themselves.
The film depicts the life of Major T.E. Lawrence (played by the newly-discovered Peter O'Toole), and his wartime exploits which take him from his beginnings as an undervalued and disinterested polymath private who is trapped in a map room at a Middle East British army camp in Cairo, to being one of the greatest foreign saviors of the Arab people that they had ever known.
In the film, Lawrence's profound appreciation for the logical mind and lateral thinking allows him to most fairly and comprehensively evaluate not just the Arab people he is charged with observing and negotiating with, but also his British superiors, with whom his Arab charges turn out to have a conflict of interest. Throughout the film, Lawrence is admired and respected by all, because he never insults their intelligence, and always strives to understand and speak to them on the terms of their inner, governing logic.
The most important feature of this film, to me, is the way that Lawrence constantly struggles with the issue of who am I? Who should I be? What sense of life should I employ? Should he live by the rationale of the controlled and mandatorily polite British culture, or the rationale of hot-blooded reactionism that is the Arab culture? Throughout this film, the fatherless-since-infancy character of Lawrence struggles with this all-important issue, which will dictate to what and to whom his allegiance should ultimately be tethered.
The entire cast of this film is made up of actors who are second to none, playing characters who really existed in Lawrence's adventures: Sir Alec Guiness plays "Faisal", prince of the principal tribe of what would eventually become Saudi Arabia... his soft-spoken, ethereal manner thinly veils an ever-present, cunningly analytical and strategic mind that is delightful to watch; Omar Sharif plays "Sherif Ali" -- the nephew of Faisal -- whose hastily passionate and warlike nature serves him well as Lawrence's uncompromising guide into Arab culture; Anthony Quinn plays "Auda abu Tayi", hot-headed leader of one of Faisal's enemy tribes, who must be constantly persuaded through his extreme sense of pride to help Lawrence and Faisal accomplish anything; and Claude Rains plays the made-for-film character "Mr. Dryden", who serves as Lawrence's very dignified and Faisal-like advisor and mentor from Britain. Aside from the character of "Dryden", once again, all these characters really existed.
Although this film no doubt seems too romanticizing towards Arab culture by today's standards, it nonetheless serves as a brilliant commentary on the cultural differences between the Arab and non-Arab worlds. It seems to me a helpful aide in understanding the psychology of the desert, and the role it plays in Arab behavior, perspective, and attitude.
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