Review of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) by Adam K — 18 Aug 2011

A remarkable masterpiece! One of the best movies ever. It inspired both Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg to become directors and is my favourite film, that is pretty darn amazing for me! Amazing in all aspects the film boasts incredible direction by David Lean who deserved every Oscar and BAFTA he got. It is an incredibly hard thing to do to make a film as bold and dramatic as this but Lean and Spiegel re-established the boundary for Bio-pics, epics and most importantly the art of Film-making itself. What makes the film so good is the scale of it. Michael Bay when given a big budget can make the worst film in the world, but when David Lean is given half the budget he creates this. Shot on location in 156 days the film won seven academy awards and eleven BAFTA's. Peter O Toole in his breakthrough first screen role played the character of TE Lawrence very well, balancing the hero and courageous side of Lawrence with the slightly insane, wants to be left alone side. The character of Lawrence himself is a very strange person and the portrayal of him by Toole in the film has long been argued, especially by Lawrence's official autobiographer, who made many changes to the screenplay especially Lawrence's dialogue. But in my opinion he did a really good job. The real honour should go to David Lean who directed the piece and the beautiful cinematography.

Truly the best film ever, I recommend you watch it again and again but with breaks.

***** 5 Star.