Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsA sideshow of a sideshow… and on changing the subject…
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2021
Passchendaele, the Somme, Verdun, even Gallipoli, and many other similar battles represented the reality of the First World War on land: a grim meat grinder in which so many lives were lost for a few hundred yards of land gained, often to be lost again, in the next offensive by the opposing side. Glory? Decisive Military Strategy? The terms don’t fit the reality, so why don’t we change the subject, scale down a bit, and focus on the actions of one man and the sweep of a war of movement. The nexus of two men with outsized egos and a promotional bent created a myth that could pass as a worthy objective for the War to end all Wars. Lowell Thomas, an American reporter, meets an outlier of the British military establishment, T. E. Lawrence, and appends the “of Arabia” to his last name. A myth sought by the American establishment. A myth that would get the doughboys into their own meat grinders, like Belleau Woods.
I first saw this movie, directed by David Lean, not long after its release in the early ‘60’s. Hadn’t a clue where Yanbu and Aqaba were. Didn’t really understand why the British were fighting the Turks, or how the Arabs became the good guys, only wanting their freedom. And now I have been to Yanbu many times, and once camped for four days, with a cold-water shower on the beach, at Aqaba. And I read much on the Great War, including accounts that indicated that with a little diplomatic adroitness, the Turks might have entered the Great War on the side of the Allies, obviating all the fighting shown in this movie, one of the sideshows to the European Civil War. And I have read T.E. Lawrence’s “Seven Pillars of Wisdom,” though now, 40 years later, I remember little of it, other than a profound unease about the truth of much of it. And I’ve learned that most Arabs don’t think much of this movie… despite all the “freedom-loving” sorts of successful efforts.
On this re-viewing I was surprised to find significant dollops of the truth. Lawrence’s masochistic nature was brought out at the beginning, by the way he extinguished a match. The (in)famous scene from his book concerning the provoked beating by the Turks, while he was a prisoner, was depicted, though the mystery of his escape, despite a significant price on his head, is not explained. The sexual nature of what most view as perversions is treated lightly. At the beginning, other British officers denounce his promotional nature. The betrayal of Arab aspirations for independence by the British (and the French) was brought out reasonably well. General Allenby, the leader of British forces in the Middle East, specifically assures Prince Feisal that: “We have no ambitions in Arabia.” Yet thanks to the Russian revolution (not mentioned in the film), the secret Sykes-Picot treaty (which is mentioned by name) between Britain and France, divvying up the Middle East between the two, becomes public knowledge and Feisal will learn of the betrayal.
One of the best scenes that resonated was when Feisal is telling Lawrence that he is a “desert-loving English, like Dougherty and Gordon, but no Arab loves the desert because there is nothing there. We built Cordoba when London was a village.” Saudis expressed that thought to me many times and could not understand why I traveled extensively in the desert. Also, loved the scenes that were filmed at Wadi Rum (in Jordan), where I have been, as well as topographically similar areas on the other side in Saudi Arabia.
Peter O’Toole plays T.E. Lawrence well. As for the Arabs, the Englishman Alec Guinness plays Prince Feisal and the Mexican, Anthony Quinn, plays Auda Abu Tayi. The only real Arab in a leadership role is the Egyptian, Omar Sherif, who plays Ali Quarish. That sets the tone for who is in charge for the scene that must rankle many an Arab, and I would frequently joke about: Lawrence in his flowing white robe, on top of the dunes, waving his arm forward, to go get the spoils from the blown-up Turkish train in the Hijaz, and thousands of Arabs dutifully following. “I was the guy on the left,” as I would jest. The hand waving forward, being dutifully obeyed, was Lawrence’s fervid imagination. No doubt though, the Arabs tolerated Lawrence since he was the conduit for the cannons and machine guns they did not have.
Ah, but the movie omits a much more fascinating (and complex, for sure) story. The movie largely omits the DATES of events. Aqaba fell in July 1917, Jerusalem in December 1917 and Damascus in October 1918, all events too late to impact the much larger events in Europe. But what was occurring in Arabia precisely at the same time that so impacts the modern world today is never mentioned. Ibn Saud was taking on Prince Feisal’s father, Sharif Hussein, over the Al-Khurma oasis, between the Nedj and the Hijaz. In a five year, on and off struggle, Ibn Saud took over the Hijaz, deposing Hussein and eventually creating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And the British, with Gertrude Bell calling the shots, cobbled together three very disparate provinces of the now dissolved Ottoman Empire, as a consolation prize for Alec Guinness (OK, Prince Feisal), and called it Iraq, a place of few Americans have now become acquainted with. Yet another story to be told, sans the hand waving forward.
For the movie, Lawrence of Arabia, the second time around, now with a bit of sand between my toes, 3-stars.
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