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by Blender Dumbass

Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".

Steven Spielberg, who took a lot of influence from the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia by David Lean, said this is a kind of movie that would not be done these days. And he is not talking about the epic production, about the elaborate sets, and very complex sequences, that today in the age of CGI would totally be faked to one degree or another. What he is talking about is more political. Thomas Edward Lawrence was not necessarily a good guy. He murdered a lot of people, some in cold blood. As he himself states in the movie: he quite enjoyed it. And yet the film is an epic tale romanticizing this man as a sort of broken mythical hero. Which begs the question: why?

Watching this movie while living in Israel is a rather interesting experience. The story starts in Cairo ( Egypt ), goes through the current Saudi Arabia, towards Aqaba, which is right next to Eilat ( the most southern city in Israel ). Then through Jerusalem ( with a few references to Gaza ) all the way to Damascus, which is a bit north from the northenest part of the country. One of the major characters in the plot is General Allenby, who's name you can see in the center of Tel Aviv which has one of its major streets named after him.

And yet in the center of it all is Major Lawrence. A narcissist that is probably also a psychopath which, acting against direct orders, tries to join various Arab tribes into one, in order to have an army for himself. He talks about bringing freedom to those people. But ultimately doesn't know what the hell to do when the fighting and killing is over. And this character is somehow romanticized in this movie.

In one way you can think of Lawrence of Arabia as a kind of proto-Dune. While Frank Herbert's novel ( and it's film adaptations ) are allegories on the middle east. Which are designed to shine a light on the corruption of an individual when power presents itself, Lawrence of Arabia is a concrete example of this sort of thing actually happening. Which is then dramatized to give you a similar effect to Dune.

The film almost wants you to admire Major Lawrence, until it pulls the rug from underneath you, by later showing him as a pathetic kind of fool. As a man raped into becoming a symbol of hope by other man. I'm not kidding. While General Allendy and his advisers constantly manipulate Lawrence into coming back to the battlefield, there is an actual scene where Lawrence is being sexually assaulted by a Turkish officer. Now given that the movie was released during the code, this scene is not particularly graphic and is also later explained with a different meaning, giving the filmmakers the ability to get away with showing something like this. But the sexual tension is present and very visceral.

In a way the movie is showing a broken man that people perceive as a hero because they don't know any better. Because he has the charisma and the will to lead. Even thought in the end of the day, he doesn't really know what the hell he is doing. And even though most of what he is doing he doesn't even want to do.

Speaking of style, Lawrence of Arabia is very Spielberg-like. Think of something like what Spielberg does in the Indiana Jones films, but with a bit slower camera and a higher frequency of grandiose shots. This is not a Michael Bay movie, even though it has explosions. David Lean is way too much in control. But it is not a Stanley Kubrick movie either.

Happy Hacking!!!

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I am sleepy, so is Lawrence

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