A Great Character! A lot of Camels!

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2010)

I missed this film when it came out fifty years ago. I was just a kid. I've seen portions of it on TCM at times. I finally got a copy and saw it. It is is a wonderful story of one the most interesting figures in history. It is intelligent and exciting and frustrating. I began by accepting the verisimilitude of this film. I then watched the incredible effort put forth by Lawrence as he barged his British rear end into the affairs of the Arabs to meet and defeat the Turks. For me, the politics were the most interesting. The British Empire with its pack of windbags, bringing the world to its knees. We speak of the Nazis. What about the way the British treated the Bedouin populations in the name of imperialism. Still, as a snapshot of the strange landscape of social expansion, this movie is wonderful I found Lawrence's character utterly insufferable at times, his arrogance and insensitivity; but, by the same token, he was great to watch. I wish I'd had a chance to see this on the big screen. One issue I would take is that there is an awful lot of time following camels running across the desert. With a bit of cutting, I don't think much would have been lost.