Exotic and grand, for reasons I can't fully explain

Rating: 10/10 (29 June 2009)

Recently I was told I have attention deficit disorder, which admittedly, wasn't too much of a shocker. Over the past few years I've found more joy in short films than the longer ones; hence, why I loved the Canadian show ZeD since it featured lots of short films. I also watch some TV shows where episodes are only 20-22 minutes long. I enjoyed The Dark Knight (2008) but thought it was a bit too long- two hours and twenty minutes. Then there's Lawrence of Arabia (1962)- almost four hours long! Yet the movie is good enough that I actually don't resent it for its length. I don't think I'd cut anything from it. I'm not sure if I've seen it in one sitting, but it's actually compelling viewing.
The film is set in World War I with the British hoping to undermine one of its enemies, the Ottoman Empire (here mostly called Turkey), by assisting the Arab revolt against it. The British officer TE Lawrence (played by Peter O'Toole) particularly becomes committed to giving the Arabs their freedom- even from his own people, the British. He leads Arab warriors to some victories over the Turks.
Lawrence of Arabia won the Oscar for Best Picture and the American Film Institute twice ranked it as one of the top ten best American films ever, although Lawrence of Arabia is typically considered to be a British movie. Still, it is deserving of the praise it gets. Maybe for cinematography, but I've heard that's really most impressive on the big screen. I've only seen it on my small TV and laptop, so I can't say that's really why I enjoyed the movie, although I did find the setting exotic. I'm not totally sure what the message of the movie was, and sometimes I found some of the scenes difficult to understand. But I am particularly interested in history, politics and war, and I guess that probably explains a lot of the film's appeal. Lawrence of Arabia captures the subject of achieving greatness. This includes a single man becoming great, with Lawrence becoming a hero to the Arabs and an inspiring figure to the British and Americans (through media attention), and with Prince Feisal becoming a king. O'Toole plays Lawrence in an interesting way, with emotion and conviction. Feisal, an Arab, is played by Alec Guinness, who is decidedly not Arabic- but he plays the part well, giving the character a feeling of power and wisdom. It also includes the story of how a people became great- Lawrence calls the Arabs a "little people" at the start of the movie, but they're not by the end. Perhaps it can be said Lawrence achieves greatness by finding his place in the world, among the Arabs, showing one can find one's place in the world anywhere. But he does leave Arabia at the end of the movie. Maybe he was one of those unfortunate people who couldn't find his place anywhere. This movie, however, has a definite place in cinematic history.