R.I.P. Omar Sharif

Like many people in English-speaking countries, I first saw Omar Sharif in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. I was only a child but already loved watching movies -- and I never forgot his impact: especially his grand entrance in that film. Three years later came DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, which I still love. Some reviewer once complained that Sharif does nothing in ZHIVAGO except stand around, looking doe-eyed, but that's inaccurate. David Lean could not dramatize Yuri Zhivago's poetry; but at strategic points he did put his camera on Omar Sharif -- in whose face we could see the range of feelings and reactions to external stimuli that would emerge from the character as poetry.

But even as I enjoyed Sharif's work throughout his career and for most of my life, I think it's as Vogel in THE LAST VALLEY that he delivered his best performance -- certainly my own personal favorite: The isolated man of education and reason, adrift in the madness of a European religious war.

Vogel: "Do witches cast spells? I have to believe it. Otherwise 20, 30,000 men, women, and children are falsely accused ... brutally tortured until they confess ... and murdered each year in Germany alone. All in the name of God."

The Captain: "Nations are murdered in the name of God."

The silent expression with which Vogel replies to the Captain's cynicism is a moment of nakedly human idealism. The dialogue scenes between these two characters are the heart and, for me, the high points of THE LAST VALLEY. This is the film to which I might have to return this weekend ... with a sense of loss.

Men and women pass along from this Earth every day. But some artists (including certain actors) leave behind for us something of themselves in their work, that will be remembered ... with a permanent poignance attached.

It WAS a beautiful valley. Vogel shall now have his rest. And time.

Goodbye, Mr. Sharif.

Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get.