Magnificent

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2002)

They don't make 'em like this anymore, that's for sure...Lawrence of Arabia is one of those movies that defines the term 'epic.'
Without going into the plot in too much detail, it's the story of a British army officer serving in Turkey in WWI. He's sent on a rather vague fact finding mission and ends up falling in love with the desert and it's constantly in-fighting tribal peoples. He attempts to unite them against the Turks and when doing so, embarks upon a journey of self discovery.
Firstly, alongside 2001: A Space Odyssey, this is the best looking film I've ever seen. The cinematography is nothing short of magnificent with some shots leaving one to ponder how they were achieved at all (the documentary on the DVD answers some of these questions.) The scene where Lawrence blows out a match and we cut to an image of the blazing sun is reminiscent of the famous scene in 2001 where the neanderthal throws the bone into the air and we cut to a similarly shaped spaceship. Yes folks - it's that good!! (The image of the sun is the only shot in the movie that's not real - they tried shooting it but it burnt holes in the film, so it's actually a painting.)
The restored 220 minute version looks immaculate - it's as if it was filmed yesterday. Nick Roeg worked as second unit cameraman on this movie and it's clear where he got his inspiration from to make 'Walkabout' nine years later.
The acting is superlative with Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn and others putting in great performances. For me, Alec Guinness was a strange choice to play Prince Feisal and I was never fully convinced, but he still puts in a credible showing - just not his best. O'Toole does a good job of conveying Lawrence's confusion and inner turmoil - at times his eyes say far more than dialogue ever could.
The scale of the film is amazing - thousands of extras, towns built from scratch and full on battle scenes. Despite what some philistines seem to think, there is no substitute for real people charging on real horses with real buildings. There's no trickery in this movie (apart from the aforementioned painting of the sun) and it shows - anyone who champions the use of CGI should watch this film and eat humble pie.
As many others have said, you could easily write pages and pages about this movie. If I was a film student, It'd make a great essay. If you haven't seen it - do so. If you consider yourself to be a fan of intelligent cinema, rush out and buy the DVD as soon as possible, settle down with some munchies and watch the full 3 hours 40 mins. It never drags - It's quite simply one of the greatest movies of all time - period.