One of the greatest achievements in film, and one of the greatest achievements of art

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2019)

Popular film lovers, beware: this may not be a film for you. Is Lawrence as depicted here a hero, or anti-hero? Rather than debate the politics and tribalisms and nationalisms at play in the story--many of which plague our world and its various peoples to this day--I'd rather celebrate the magnificence of this masterpiece. Film is a visual language, and no film David Lean made ever came as close to dialogue-free action as this one. Sequences like Ali's arrival at the well and the rescue of Gasim are self-contained works of art unto themselves. In our hyper-sensitive times, some casting choices may strike us as infelicitous; political correctness aside, Guinness's wordless moments as Faisal listening to Lawrence in the tent conference are exquisite examples of film acting at its finest. Those who might hate on this film because it's "not Star Wars" would do well to remember that Sir Alec's performance as Obi-wan builds on his having played Faisal here. Jarre's score, Young's cinematography, Coates's editing, and the entire production crew achievement stands alongside benchmarks like Citizen Kane, Vertigo, and few others.