Excellent Movie

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 2007)

What can you say about such a great movie, that can give the reader an idea of the quality of the visuals, the acting, the story etc ? I had watched LoA before on TV; but as usual with widescreen movies on a 27 inch TV in the 80's, the film didn't leave any impression on me, except, that it's damn long. When in 1989 the remastered, means longer version, came back to the movie theater, I went with friends to see it again. What a difference. Already the prelude with the red curtains still closed beamed me back to the 50's/60's, when all big movies had music to create the right feeling before the movie really started. Great photography, wonderful music that stays with you for weeks, and of course the acting of all the great names make this movie one of the few films, that I can watch over and over again. This film made Peter O'Toole known to the world, as well introduced Omar Sharif to the western world, although he was already a big star in Egypt and other middle eastern countries. The added material - missing for the better part of 27 years - gives a whole new insight to the person of Lawrence and the circumstances of the creation of an Arabic world with united countries, in contrast to hundreds and hundreds of tribes, that were fighting each other all the time. Some critics didn't like the violence, that take place in several scenes; but I believe these scenes of murder and violence only add to the feeling, to watch actually a documentary of what was going on, instead of just watching a mainstream movie. And besides, any PG 13 movies from the last 15 years has far more violence, than any scene in this movie. If you also feel dizzy after couple of minutes, watching modern movies with their in average every 0.8 sec edits and you would love to see wide visuals, that give you the feeling you are in the desert or by the oasis etc, watch this movie and enjoy.