Lawrence of Arabia
The story opens with a large symphonic overture, which leads into the death of Thomas Edward Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) in a motorcycle crash. When a reporter asks questions at the memorial service at St. Paul's a flashback to the desert campaigns of the legendary figure begins. In 1916, Lawrence is a disgruntled young lieutenant with the British H.Q. staff in Cairo. Discontent with a desk job, he persuades Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains) of the Arab Bureau to let him seek out the Bedouin Chief, Prince Feisal (Alec Guiness), to check on the progress of the Arab Revolt. Lawrence suggests the possibility of helping Feisal unite the Arab tribes against their common enemy, the Turks, with whom the British are also at war. Having received permission to try, Lawrence journeys to the desert. There his first encounter with tribal rivalries occurs when Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif), who is later to become one of Lawrence's strongest allies, shoots Lawrence's guide for drinking from a water hole which belongs to Ali. With the help of Ali, Prince Feisal is convinced into allowing his own guerilla army to cooperate with the British.Lawrence soon becomes a charismatic Leader to the Arab hordes. Sustaining
Having arrived in Damascus, the Arabs establish an Arab Council, which falls apart because of tribal divisions. He returns to England a hollow individual to let Feisal and Allenby come to terms. The camera then focuses mid-angle on to Lawrence's upper body and heart broken face as he shots the man. There are also many shots from above their camps to show their size and resolve against the Turkish Empire. Towards the end of the film Lawrence is shown suffering from battle fatigue and near the point of lunacy. The main turning point comes when Lawrence forces himself to execute a man who murders another man from a neighboring tribe. Lawrence of Arabia is an epic and moving adventure about one man who united many tribes to fight for their independence. Once more too, Lawrence becomes caught in that aura of killing and cannot stop himself from leading the brutal massacre of a Turkish column. Lawrence of Arabia is the story of one man's heroic works of uniting a league of Bedouin tribes into the nation of Arabia and his failures to hold together peace in the Arab Council. This incident breaks the illusion of invincibility that Lawrence has of himself and which the hero-worship of the Arab tribes has created. The Victorious Arab Warriors triumphantly proclaim him "El Aurens". There are many wide panoramic camera shots of the desert and the Arab army either traveling or in battle symbolizing their seemingly endless pilgrimage across the desert to freedom. The condemned man removes the cloak from his face to reveal it is the same man Lawrence turned back into the Nefud Desert to rescue when Ali laughed and scorned him saying that his life wasn't worth it. But yet while doing justice to these noble causes the film also brings the audience face to face with the horror of war and the portrayal of the Arab people not as bloodthirsty savages but as freedom fighters in the name of God and their land.
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