The grand-daddy of all biopics

Rating: 7/10 (15 October 2011)

If we're in the mood to do film genealogies, and I am, then Lawrence of Arabia is probably the inventor of the modern biopic, the perennial awards-bait genre. (You could maybe posit Citizen Kane as the originator, but that's really a different kettle of fish.) It examines a fairly recent historical figure at the prime of their life, dedicating numerous scenes and most of the dialogue to hammering home that the central character is a Very Special Person Unlike His Short-Sighted Bosses, and in this way the film spends a good amount of time justifying itself. This genre obviously has strengths and flaws, and they're apparent in Lawrence: the striking personal power as well as the kind of historical oversimplification and tourism that goes along with it.
Lawrence of Arabia's main claims to being a great film are David Lean's gorgeous cinematography, stopping the action at several points simply to capture the desert in all its cold grandeur, and the film's final hour, in which Peter O'Toole turns his larger-than-life hero into a desperate, wild-eyed man who can no longer control the violence he's created. The biggest points against it are its indulgent four-hour running time and its unavoidable racism (having two of its major Arab characters played by white actors in brownface is really one of the lesser offences.) With this in mind, it's hard to say whether a contemporary viewer will really enjoy this film. I found it fitfully interesting but ultimately had trouble engaging with it, and felt kind of exhausted by the film. On the other hand, I've been told that it needs to be seen on a big screen for true appreciation, and not my modest laptop monitor, so I don't want to say anything definitive. Whether or not it "holds up", Lawrence of Arabia is a pioneering movie that manages, despite everything, to capture a kind of beauty, and that makes it worth slogging through for anyone genuinely interested in film.