The story of my experience.

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2019)

I wrote this review back in May when I started writing reviews here and I gave it a 7/10- stating that even though it was critically acclaimed(Roger Ebert gave if 4/4 stars and called it a great movie, Steven Spielberg calls it his favorite movie, it won Best Picture, etc.), I thought it dragged way too much.
It shocked me MOST that it won Best Picture-To Kill A Mockingbird and The Music Man were deemed less great than this?
My problem was not just with the dragging plot, but also how there is so much focus on the desert without any dialogue. I thought this could have been easily shorter than 227 minutes!
These were my thoughts when I saw this when I was 18-which was 2 years ago. Now I'm 20, and I had gotten rid of my old DVD. But something about the movie made me want to see this "7/10 movie" again.
So on New Year's Eve I bought it, and last night I got around to doing so. I find myself riveted with the opening, and yes, some parts did go longer that it should have, but like 2001: A Space Odyssey, such moments should be simply experienced and taken in, and then it is not so bad.
Seeing it again, I noticed many powerful moments, such as: the cut to a sunset, the quicksand scene, Lawrence getting his robe, etc.
There are also great lines, like(paraphrases below):
"What do you like about the desert?"
"It's clean."
(after pinching a lit match)
"Ow! That hurts!"
"Of course it hurts!"
"So how do you deal with the pain?"
"The trick is to not MIND that it hurts."
The latter quote is probably my #1 part of the movie, by the way!
I apologize for my previous 7, this truly deserved more! Lawrence of Arabia deserves to be called a classic, despite it's slow pace. It's a wonder to behold.