While this seems like fodder for any heroic drama, Lean does not present it in such an affectionate way. We cannot say with absolute certainty that Lawrence is a hero, because his motives are very blurry. Does he really care about the Arab`s freedom, or is he really acting out of some more primal need? The fact that he is praised so highly; does this go to his head? There are numerous scenes where he has the gall to compare himself to Moses, and to basically laugh at the face of fate and tradition, and these moments can be taken in not-so-pleasant ways. The implications are made far more dreadful with the introduction of a more sensational idea; the possibility that his drive to be a hero has brought up more disturbing aspects of his being that he has never encountered before - a taste for blood and violence. What is even more disturbing is his chilling confession that he "enjoyed it". This makes all of the violent action which follows his confession more grim, as we are forced to see the darker side of the mentality of war. The final violent scene in the film is pretty close to the final word on the contrast between the heroic image of war and its primal, savage truth.
Such treatment of violence is unheard of in today`s films. A good personal comparison for me is that of Braveheart. This film also deals with a man who leads a people to freedom, and who do a lot of butchering of the "enemy" along the way. Yet we don`t question Mel Gibson`s motives, and the movie does not paint an ambiguous picture of him. The final battle cry of "Freedom" pretty much sums up the message of the picture; that all the violence was necessary in order to create some fanciful idea of freedom. But Lawrence of Arabia does not create such a simplistic scenario. While freedom, whatever it is, is a nice thing, it does not come without a price. There is a lot of bloodshed, and a strong understanding of the primitive, violent nature of the men involved. And such activities do not exist in a vacuum, because standing alongside simple fights for freedom is the complicated world of politics, and the movie subtly implies that there are ulterior motives not just with the British, obviously, but with Lawrence himself, and even with Prince Fassel (Alec Guinness).
