Dazzling

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2003)

Lawrence Of Arabia, the amazing treasure from director David Lean, is dazzling. It's an exciting, mind blowing, thought capturing movie of epic proportions. It took me two days to watch it, but I was still thrilled all the way through. Everything was perfect: The action, the acting, the cast, the scenes, and the score. Based on a true story, the film tells the tale of British soldier T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), who is sent to Arabia by his disgruntled general to help the Arabians in their revolt against Turkey during World War one. He joins the group of Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness) and leads fifty of his men across the desert to a faraway city. On the way, when they reach the end of a barren strip with no water, Lawrence realizes that one person has been left behind. Sherif Ali Ibn El Kharish (Omar Sherif) criticizes Lawrence's decision, telling him that he will die trying. Lawrence ends up saving the man's life and earns momentous respect from his fellow travelers. His name also becomes of great honor. He eventually conjoins his group with another that is led by Auda abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) and their success becomes even greater as they conquer more territory and defeat armies of Turks. But a brutal beating in the office of a Turkish Bey (Jose Ferrer) makes him realize that his place is with his own people. In the end, he must decide whether his loyalties are with the Arabs or the British.
I can guarantee that you will be stunned by this film. There are amazing and grabbing moments from start to finish. Arabia may not be a scenic land, but the settings and filming locations are just beautiful. Lean will capture you with sweeping shots of the barren land that Lawrence must cross, although some of them go on a little too long. The movie has an extremely lengthy running time, so it will definitely need your full attention. But that does allow for some pretty exciting action. I give every performance contributed two big thumbs up, like those of Omar Sherif, Anthony Quinn, and Alec Guinness, who would later go on to play the famous Obi Wan Kenobi. Peter O'Toole captures the magic of the story with a perfect portrayal of T.E. Lawrence as well. Plus, the two young servant kids reminded me of Merry and Pippin from the Lord Of The Rings films. There are some rather sad moments, and the ending was a little disappointing. However, those don't take away the magic of this classic. I recommend it to everybody!
**** out of *****