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My Favourite Epic: Lawrence of Arabia
An epic delving into geopolitics, the horrors of war, the death of the soul, and the presence of the divine on Earth
After all these years, I’m still absolutely stunned by the sheer magnitude of Lawrence in Arabia (1962). How on Earth did such a film ever get made? David Lean’s epic is not just one of the most impressive spectacles ever put to screen, but one of the most profound depictions of human civilisation: our capacity for astonishing feats of bravery and fortitude, as well as our inclination towards narcissism and evil.
It is fitting that a film this great in scope should be concerned with greatness as a theme: what is it that makes a people great? Or a single person? Chronicling the experiences of British Army Lieutenant T. E. Lawrence during the First World War, we’re shown how our societies lift themselves up and tear themselves down: courage and cowardice, benevolence and malice, kindness and wrath, trust and suspicion.
Based on Lawrence’s autobiography, Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson craft a magnificent screenplay that encompasses all of these themes. This means that this…
