AFI Top 100: #7
Well, this was certainly a much more boring film than I would have expected for being one of the most renowned American classics of all time. David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia is a bit of a struggle to get through: not only because of its unnecessarily extended story but because of its slow direction and how little I cared about the protagonist. One of the things that gets pounded in your head from the moment that this film starts, though, is how absolutely beautiful this movie is, so much so the point that I feel like these filmmakers were just basking in it. I can clearly see why this film has become such a classic over the last 60 years but its dated choices and genre setting clearly puts it as a product of its time. While I can appreciate everything that this movie has done for the art of epic filmmaking and boosting the careers of its cast and crew, I just had a really hard time getting into this one.
T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is an English lieutenant known for his comedic side and lighthearted approach to life. His military decides to send him to Arabia to unite and lead the contrasting Arab tribes during WWI in order to fight the Turks in that particular country, while he must also grapple with so many different people, conflicts, and faces of war while he tries to accomplish his expansive mission. This script, written by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson, adapted from the autobiographical writings of T.E. Lawrence himself, is one of my main issues with this entire film. The hero's journey is typically supposed to take an audience through conflict, drama, and renewal for a certain character, all the while making viewers care for this protagonist. This can and has obviously been played with for countless movies and almost every film plot has this idea of a "hero's journey" in some way. What Lawrence of Arabia doesn't do, however, is make me even care about the titular hero. Discussions about the white knighting of this movie aside (which there are plenty), I just could not get into the character of Lawrence at all or what he was trying to accomplish. This film takes such a long time to establish the motivations of the characters and what their end goal even is that I constantly found myself asking what was going on. Perhaps I am just not big-brained enough to understand the political and mental implications of Bolt and Wilson's script but as much as I tried, I could not get invested in what they were trying to sell me. The character of Lawrence is an iconic, historical figure that deserves to have his story told but maybe not in a film that is upwards of 4 hours long. There was simply not enough conflict that Lawrence went through or personal drama which made me even care about his journey in the slightest. This definitely fits the approach of these kinds of epic war films, however, because as popular as they were at the time, I really don't see them being able to be successful nowadays. I'm honestly surprised that this film has become such a classic because, with other films of the time like Ben-Hur and Spartacus, both of which are vastly more exciting and entertaining, I just can't see Lean's film competing.
The direction from Lean is far too spacey and as much as I hate checking the timecode as to not ruin a film's experience, I couldn't help it with this movie. I can not come up with a single reason as to why this movie had to be more than, say, two and a half hours but stretching this story into almost four was one of Lean's worst mistakes. Not only did it test my patience even more but I just genuinely do not think this script has enough solid substance to constitute the overly long runtime. Lean lingers on some scenes throughout this film for way too long and I was just so utterly bored in stretches of this movie that I found myself losing touch with what was going on. The pacing from Lean is just not my style and I had a hard time feeling for anything these characters were going through but if there is one thing for certain, it's that Lean and cinematographer Freddie Young know how to shoot a movie of this scale. A film this epic in size almost requires vast cinematography to capture that feeling and these two do it extremely well. I was in awe of this whole film and nearly every shot could be a painting. If nothing else, Lawrence of Arabia is a technical masterpiece and one that really deserves that title because of its camerawork. The long, sweeping shots of the arid desert paired with some incredible close-ups (that are so unafraid to make the audience drown in Peter O'Toole's eyes) made for such an amazing visual experience and one that makes it clear how beautiful it must have been to see this in theaters upon its release. The lead performance from O'Toole was also fantastic and he embodies this character with such an energy that I could not help but fall in love with him. The humor and lightheartedness that Lawrence displays throughout the movie were spectacular and O'Toole was the perfectly charming leading man to helm this character. So many of this film's pieces are wonderful and the way they work together makes it clear why this movie has such a legendary reputation attached to it. Even though I could not get into the story as much as I desperately wanted to, I can not deny that this whole, visual story was a treasure in itself.
More like BORE-ence of Arabia, am I right? Anyway, now that I've gotten that out of my system, I just want to reiterate how utterly dull this entire experience was for me. David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia is a technical masterpiece and one that looks and sounds better than any other film I have seen from this era. I was constantly astounded by its beauty but appearance can really only go so far when there is not enough material to match and I could definitely classify this film as style over substance. I tried my hardest to at least enjoy myself watching this movie but it only proved to be harder and harder with each passing minute.
My Rating: ★★★
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