Not necessarily the best movies ever made, but these are twenty of my favorites, in no particular order.  Each post for the next twenty days will feature a brief discussion of one film (though one or two days will have multiple posts to make up for absences).

Post 7: Lawrence of Arabia (1962 dir. David Lean)

I would have liked to have known David Lean, though I understand knowing him was not an easy task. There’s a moment, towards the final act of Lawrence of Arabia, when T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) orders “No prisoners!” and we believe him. We absolutely accept he means what he says, and the ensuing violence, while horrifying, works within the story.

Lawrence helps unify and lead the tribes and camps of desert cultures throughout Arabia during World War I. He begins the war as a cartogopher who carries an unhealthy obsession with the desert. Later in the war, after some success, a reporter asks Lawrence why he likes the desert so much. “Because it’s clean,” he replies. Again, we believe him.

There is an overwhelming sincerity, perhaps even deep-seeded innocence, to Lawrence and his adventures. Regardless of his character flaws, we empathize with him. Peter O’Toole’s acting here is some of the finest in film history. It is a forever performance.

Lawrence changes and evolves, transforming from a cartogropher into the military leader who orders “No prisoners!” He is an angry, selfish, arrogant, successful, compelling, romantic, complicated man. This film is epic in scale, for sure, but it is epic too in its intimacy. It is a character study primarily of one man, his passions and flaws, played out on a grand canvas of north African desert warfare.

Lawrence of Arabia, the intimate epic.