Should be Watched by Every American/Brit

Rating: 9/10 (30 October 2005)

This film is a classic and an important tool for understanding current upheaval in the Middle East. Aside from the unbelievable cast, haunting score, and superb acting (particularly O'Toole's Lawrence... even better in the director's cut which shows additional facets of O'Toole's character development), the film demonstrates the most effective tactics employed in asymmetrical warfare... hit and run strikes on soft targets like Aqaba and Turkish railroad/supply lines. These are the tactics currently being utilized in Iraq, and we could learn valuable lessons, namely that the Sykes-Picot agreement and its arbitrary national boundaries, combined with the dishonesty of the British has been a great factor in the ever-present unrest that has plagued the region since the days of Lawrence. Perhaps we would also be wise to note that a superpower has NEVER defeated a well-established insurgency. Even ignoring its intellectual provocation, this is an epic that effectively balances the sweeping vastness of the Arabian peninsula's awe inspiring deserts with the (certainly exaggerated) grandeur of the fascinating character that was T.E. Lawrence.