by peggy714 ยป Fri Jul 10 2015 15:53:15
IMDb member since January 2014
First of all, I know I'm going to get a lot of backlash for saying that Lawrence of Arabia is boring.
It is important to note that I am a huge fan of the classic movies such as Ben Hur, Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, Dr. Zhivago, etc.
But Lawrence of Arabia is way too long at 216 minutes. Their explanations of the characters could be much shorter.
I do feel bad about not liking this movie because it has a fantastic cast. In fact, some of these actors are my favorites.
For those of you who do like this movie, continue to watch it because I won't.
I think you'll find that the main character, Thomas E. Lawrence, is not that interesting. His passion for Arab issues and so forth is rather wooden, and not driven by any inner desire. So the movie comes across as rather empty at time.
It's a magnificent looking film, and is an overall impressive film on all levels, but the Lawrence character isn't given a proper exposition to hook in all viewers as it could have.
Warning, ego talking here; if I had shot it, I would have dedicated a good ten minutes of the film to Lawrence's life in the UK. Show what he liked, if he had a girlfriend (probably not, I think recent documentaries suggest he may have been gay), what his friends "at the pub" were like, if he played any sport[s], and if his views on non-white countries and people differed from those of the people he grew up with.
We don't get any of that. We get this generic soldier who kills himself screaming down the backroads of Great Britain. And that's it.
The movie itself is slow paced, but then does become a labor because we don't have any insight into Thomas E. Lawrence.
Anyway, I hope that help explains why you might be impatient with it, but haven't been able to understand why.
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