Number 1

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2006)

Ever since watching this movie for the first time at a young, impressionable age, it has remained in my top 3 of best movies ever. Oh yes, from time to time it has slipped a spot in favour of movies which managed to move me as well. But as fads and favours fade away, it manages to regain the top spot time and time again.
I will not rate the overall cinematographic qualities of this extraordinary epic, nor the achievements of its actors, nor the stunning and evocative soundtrack by Maurice Jarre. Others are much more qualified than myself to do so, and they have done so in large numbers on these pages.
Of course the movie is not historically accurate. How could it be? After all Lawrence spent years in the Middle East before the war. The Arab revolt was a long series of skirmishes and guerrilla actions over a period of years. To distill that into a movie of the length of this one, one must make certain adaptations and amendments. Lawrence was not the only 'western warrior' involved in the Arab Revolt. But he was - although he played down his own role - one of the most important and influential, even though many soldiers of more importance and higher rank served in the region at the same time. TEL is sometimes portrayed as a somewhat arrogant and self-important. He only became so after the war. In fact, the Lawrence of Arabia legend only broke - I'm simplifying things here - when an American journalist published his accounts of the Arab Revolt after the war and the British authorities felt it would be beneficial to play up the 'British hero in Arabia' act. Lawrence went along with the whole show because he felt it was just another way of advancing the Arab cause through other means. But once its usefulness had gone, he slipped back into anonymity, changing his name and rejoining the British army as a simple foot soldier.
If you do not wish to believe everything that is portrayed in this epic movie on sight, by all means read Lawrence's own account, which he wrote down in a literary epic called "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom". Read how T.E. puts down the Arabs and their character in the opening chapters, only to confess - by words as well ad deeds - his undying love for them and their world in subsequent chapters. In the end, he became a man trapped between two cultures. A Beduin at heart, but knowing fully well his Western roots prohibited him of ever becoming a true Arab. A British subject by birth, but at unease with the social ambiguity and ruthless political scheming of western society (although he knew most great and influential British leaders of his time personally). A scholar, a brilliant writer, thinker, warrior and strategist. A true genius. But, troubled and unstable as true geniuses are, also just a humble man, stunned and confused at the events he helped shape as much as at the events that shaped him. The movie would have probably embarrassed him to no end. But it does him credit as well.