Lawrence of Arabia

UK 1962
222 minutes
Directed by David Lean
Leading players - Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness and Anthony Quayle

Synopsis

Lieutenant Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) escapes the tedium of drawing maps in a Cairo office to become an observer with Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness), leader of an Arab tribal army, in what is now Saudi Arabia. The film is based loosely on 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom', T.E. Lawrence's own account of his accomplishment in uniting disparate Arab groups into revolt against axis Turkey during the First World War.

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A remarkable aspect of 'Lawrence of Arabia' is that it contains hardly any of the elements one would expect in an epic. Though the film is over three hours long, there are few leading characters, a sparse script with little in the way of subplot to clutter the narrative, no women, no love interest and not that much in the way of action.

It is, however, an intimate, personal story told on a vast scale. David Lean and screenwriter Robert Bolt's Lawrence is a complex and unconventional hero, unsuited to, and uncomfortable with army formality, he is drawn increasingly to the desert. Though happier in his adopted Arab role, he is never truly at home. The portrayal of the conflict between the affected English officer and the blond fair skinned Arab, between Lawrence and El Aurens, echoes a deeper inner conflict. His long treks through vast expanses of unforgiving desert mirror his recurrent withdrawals within himself. By the inspired casting of the then unknown O'Toole, a tall almost clumsy actor (the physical opposite of Lawrence) with a manner of speech falling between insolence and amusement, Lean creates an extraordinary hero.

"Lawrence of Arabia is visually stunning. Lean boldly allows the desert itself with its vast empty power to be the film's real star."