Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Undoubtedly, Lawrence of Arabia is a truly great film. I saw it seven or eight years ago, was blown away and it was an equally overwhelming experience to re-watch it. This is a film that has so many dimensions, so many angles - and great style to boot. And yet - it is an epic film by David Lean, the director of The Bridge on River Kwai. The strange thing about Lawrence of Arabia is that it is both over the top and subtle, the grand battles scenes augmented by pompous music are contrasted with quiet scenes, lengthy images of battlefields are paired with the almost surreal nothingness of the desert. This is not the usual overblown studio-film. Lawrence of Arabia has something to say, about a human being, about colonialism, about change.

Peter O'Toole's performance is just right. His Lawrence is enigmatic so that even after spending four hours with his character, I still wonder about who this man, adventurer, war hero, really is. In several scenes, Lawrence points out that he is different. In the beginning of the film, we see him as a cocky Englishman, taking a rather carefree attitude to the norms of the army. He speaks in a jolly way and undoubtedly, is perceived as a strange bird. He is sent on a mission, and he changes. He becomes involved in the battle of the Arabs against the English, but it is up to the viewer to decide what kind of reasons he has to engage so whole-heartedly in this fight. Is he anti-colonialist? Or is he an imperialist with his own external ideas about Arabs as a People (and not as several tribes). Lawrence is taken prisoner and, it is hinted, raped. He returns to the battlefield. Towards the end of the film, Lawrence gets equally cynical. He is a famous man, followed by journalists with glory-pictures to snap; but now, it turns out, a new dimension - or is it new? - of war has entered: we see Lawrence almost enjoying the bloodshed. He is reckless, he cares, but it is not at all clear about what. When he sits down with other politicians around the negotiation table, he doesn't belong. We see him return to the original context, the stiff hierarchy and strange unreality of the army. 

What baffles me about Lawrence of Arabia is how little is straightened out for the viewer. The somewhat tacky music and battle scenes don't take away the open-endedness of the story and the depiction. Politically and morally, this remains a haunting film that opens more questions than it settles.