tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295965414056678353.post3711894428489780092..comments2023-12-30T23:58:57.197-05:00Comments on The Pilgrim's Podcast: Lawrence of Arabia - Movie ReviewHannah Longhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15529410255089707007noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295965414056678353.post-78580061178317510522014-02-25T11:31:45.167-05:002014-02-25T11:31:45.167-05:00Ha ha...plebiean gripe...just on the strength of t...Ha ha...plebiean gripe...just on the strength of that tidbit you are exonerated! :) I'll use that to justify my consumption of terrible popular movies...(Which I do more than I'll admit...)<br /><br />Partly it's just me - I don't like these sort of picture-perfect guys whose hair is never, ever, out of place. I'd have liked him better if he'd been just a little imperfect. (That goes for Chris Pine, too.) Noel Coward famously quipped to him, "If you'd been any prettier it'd have been called Florence of Arabia." :)<br /><br />When he went into the city, he did so based on the assumption that he would be mistaken for an Arab. That was his entire strength - that wild, irrational belief that he could be whatever he made himself - such as when he saved the dude in the desert and after arriving back at camp said "Nothing is written." He believes in his own omnipotence. His most marked reaction in the scene with the Turkish bey is when he slaps the Turk's hand away after being told that he is not an Arab. Later, his face is completely immobile. While I think it's a conglomeration of factors, including what is done to him, the ultimate cause for his break-down is the realization that he cannot write his own fate, that he cannot define himself. It's not that he's white - it's that he can't *change* that he is white. False God Syndrome, I suppose. I'm channeling Tim Keller I think - he quotes Kierkegaard as saying sin is "building your identity on anything but God." This movie's a great example of that. However, I'm not rushing to watch the film again either.<br /><br />I remember reading about that discovery - I imagine the psychologists are having a field day. Or possibly there's a Doctor Who episode somewhere in the future...Hannah Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15529410255089707007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295965414056678353.post-2226900951640569492014-02-24T23:13:09.920-05:002014-02-24T23:13:09.920-05:00Oh quite, quite. I was just indulging in a little ...Oh quite, quite. I was just indulging in a little plebeian gripe. ;-) By the way, did I read you correctly as saying O'Toole has no physical personality? My eyesight must be failing me...<br /><br />Mmmmm, I'm not so sure about your analysis. He's still very cocky and self-assured just before his capture---which of course is what sends him walking right into disaster. I assume you're talking about the line where the Turkish bey says "Your skin is very fair." But I simply don't see Lawrence's turning point coming from the realization that he's white. It seems obvious that he's been completely emasculated and humiliated once he's thrown out the door to find his troops again, and that's what breaks him. <br /><br />As an interesting historical aside, they're taking the incident from Lawrence's own writing, but fresh forensic evidence indicates that he very likely made it up for some bizarre reason of his own. The pages from his journals at the time had been mysteriously torn out, but they used some kind of fancy-schmancy process to discover the imprint of an "A" at the beginning of a place name on a blank facing page. Since the place where the incident allegedly took place was something beginning with a "D" (I think), scholars are now quite confident that it never happened at all.yankeegospelgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15196429275212180022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295965414056678353.post-12521671184114317912014-02-24T21:54:20.163-05:002014-02-24T21:54:20.163-05:00Yes, but I think watching movies which defy our ex...Yes, but I think watching movies which defy our expectations are quite good at times. We're so used to movies about successes that it's bizarre to watch one about a failure - but still important. Art isn't always what we like, nor should it be. It isn't there just to gratify our feelings about how life should unfold (i.e. the good guys winning, the bad guys not being complex). <br /><br />But I'll get off my soapbox now. :)<br /><br />I do know what really happened in that scene, but I didn't think that was his turning point as a character - I thought that was slightly earlier, thus I didn't make a point of it. This movie isn't about sexuality - or at least, not overtly - so I emphasized other elements.Hannah Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15529410255089707007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295965414056678353.post-42625953790314877692014-02-23T00:15:29.961-05:002014-02-23T00:15:29.961-05:00Good review. I felt a little bit cheated after thi...Good review. I felt a little bit cheated after this one. Great movie---no particular desire to see it again. I know it's supposed to be anti-climactic, I get it, but as a movie-watching experience? Disappointing. I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.<br /><br />You do realize what really happens to Lawrence after he's captured, right (in the movie anyway)? I admit it didn't dawn on me first time through either.yankeegospelgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15196429275212180022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295965414056678353.post-78534220233209974162014-02-18T06:51:14.075-05:002014-02-18T06:51:14.075-05:00I'm intrigued. The post was thought provoking....I'm intrigued. The post was thought provoking. Elora Shorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03021321777258254164noreply@blogger.com