God of the Sands

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2013)

The movie Lawrence of Arabia is about the Arabian tribes during the First World War as they try to reconquer land from the Turkish army. The story starts as the Arab soldiers lead by Prince Faisal retreat from Turkish forces. After the attack, a British officer decided that a group of the soldiers will travel through the Nefud desert and join forces with the Howeitat tribe in order to attack the Turkish base at Aqaba. When they capture the base, they move higher north towards Damascus, along the way sabotaging Turkish railways. They reach the capital before the British are able to take it themselves. But in the end the Arabs leave most city under British control.
Although the war between the Arabs and the Turks is a major part of this film, David Lean tries to focus on the British officer T.E. Lawrence. David shows how Lawrence's character changes throughout the movie. At first he depicts him as a high spirited map painter with a curiosity for the desert. As he enters the tribes, he adopts the idea that the Arabs should rule their own country. But the further Lawrence goes into battle his attitude become more aggressive and blood thirsty. In the end he finally leaves the desert all together and heads back to Britain.
One of the things that I find interesting in this movie is how in some scenes the view is drawn back, taking the viewer out of the main characters and allowing us to see the full scene as it passes through. There are many examples of this throughout the film. The first one being the entrance of Sheriff Ali to the well as he kills Lawrence's guide. It shows that while the desert is a vast and desolate place there are still feuds between the few people that live there. There is also another scene where the soldiers and Lawrence travel through the Nefud desert. Allowing us to see that the only thing besides the soldiers are there camels and the scorching sun pounding down upon them.