| | I agree with Carol's and Barbara's comments that it's a snore-fest, and I agree with carol on Zhivago. I'm gald that it's your own review though, Orion.Much more interesting when we can understand why we might also enjoy the film, even if as in this case I didnt. :-)
Orion: "It's a psychodynamic commentary on the orphaned and misfit individual's search for identity in an exotic new land, where he is no longer an ugly duckling but a swan of sorts... He gets a clean slate for once, and upon that slate can finally compose his magnum opus and finally find his dignity."
The Middle East was a clean slate? IMO the film lacked the context needed within which to judge Lawrence, and dwelt too much on him as a 'nutter,' and on the desert as a 'character' (cue endless shots of sand <yawn> - great opening scene, though, with Lawrence emerging from the heat haze like a man emerging from history.)
By all accounts Terence Rattigan's play 'Ross' (which supposedy inspired Lean) focussed on the personal as well, yet it also provided the necessary context. (I'm relying here on commentaries since I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading or seeing it.) I think the faults that I see with Lawrence lies with Lean, not with screenwriter Robert Bolt, whose other work is simply masterful. Man for All Seasons for example with Roy Kinnear is just amongst the best things on screen, particularly Kinnear's perfomance as the Common Man. That is something I can watch over and over. :-)
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