Lawrence of Arabia:The Great Epic Film
Throughout cinematic history, producers and filmmakers have had obsessions with creating magnificent epic motion pictures. The intention of the creators of these films is to blow people away with the film`s overall "largeness": an all-star cast, expensive and exotic locations and sets, and a larger-than-life or extraordinary story which justifies the film`s great expensive - and lengthy running time. Sometimes the gamble pays off, as in Titanic, or they can fail miserably, as a few of Kevin Costner`s bloated epics have.
Lawrence of Arabia is a perfect example of a huge, epic production. The cast includes such classic stars as Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, Jose Ferrer, and Peter O`Toole as the title character, the story takes place in numerous locations around Europe and Africa, and is about the historical figure of T.E. Lawrence. And three hours and forty minutes are needed to tell this story. But, besides this, Lawrence of Arabia is also the epic by which virtually all others must be compared to, as it is without a doubt one of the most fascinating and greatest of the genre. Much of the reason for this is because of the picture`s unwillingness to compromise, to go for cheap melodrama or heroics (something Titanic did often). In telling Lawrence`s life story, David Lean does not invite us to merely wallow in the cinematic glorification of a "great" man, or his "great" ideas and actions, in this case, the actions of a member of the British military who supposedly leads the Arabs to freedom. In fact, the film is deliberately ambiguous, if not downright critical. Yet the film`s nature allows for a more rich production, able to expose the oddity that is T.E. Lawrence just as well as it is able to show us great Technicolor-enhanced visuals.
The story of T.E. Lawrence is a strange and interesting one. He, a somewhat inexperienced individual relegated as a lowly clerk, is chosen to "oversee" the activities of the Turks, and specifically their conflict with the Arab tribes in the region. The British must solve this problem due to their interest in the Suez Canal, but what Lawrence did was something the British could never imagine, which was to get the Arab tribes to co-operate and drive the Turks out. He did this by somehow allowing himself to become accepted by the Arabs, so much so that he becomes almost like a hero, or perhaps even a messiah. This is brought to its fullest potential when he successfully accomplishes a number of foolhardy acts, such as crossing a patently impossible patch of desert, and, in the film`s most crucial and famous scene, just as they have finally crossed that desert, Lawrence turns around and actually manages to rescue a man who passed out an unknown distance back. It becomes apparent to the Arabs at this point that Lawrence is an extraordinary man, and make him one of their own, quite literally, as they dress him up in traditional Arabic robes. After this, the Arabs succeed in numerous conflicts, until they gain their freedom.
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