Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1962
	Director: David Lean (Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai)
	Actors: Peter O'Toole (Caligula, Troy), Alec Guinness (Star Wars IV, The Bridge on the River Kwai), Anthony Quinn (The Guns of Navarone), Omar Sharif (Doctor Zhivago, The 13th Warrior), Anthony Quayle (The Guns of Navarone)
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Epic
	Conditions of visioning: 15.06.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: During the first World War, T. E. Lawrence (O'Toole) is a slightly excentric British soldier, not really at ease with his position in Cairo. He will be sent to meet the initiator of the Arab rebellion against the Turks: Prince Feisal (Guiness), and will become himself part of the rebellion.
Review: I placed this Blu-ray on my wish list after watching a few scenes of it in Prometheus, and learning that Michael Fassbender has tried to copy Peter O'Toole for his acting. It took me some time to watch it because it does last almost four hours. As some other long movies from that period (Cleopatra, Doctor Zhivago, Ben Hur...), it starts with 5-10 minutes of symphonic music on a dark screen and includes an intermission at the middle of the movie with music again (wonderfully composed by Maurice Jarre in that case). This is nice and forces you to slowly get into the movie before it even starts. It also divides the movie in two parts of the story. In the case of Lawrence of Arabia, I loved the first part: the involving story, the majesty of the landscapes that cannot be emphasized enough, the quality of the cinematography (the scenes are perfectly framed and all of their points are perfectly in focus), the acting by O'toole, Guiness, Quinn ad others, and the pristine quality of the Blu-ray edition. This last point is of the utmost importance when for example you see a man mounting a camel arriving from the horizon towards the viewer, mixed with a mirage, and being at the beginning no more than one dark pixel against the white and blue background. Such detail must be completely lost on a lower resolution image, and the viewer that doesn't see the black pixel will wonder why we spend so much time showing the horizon! I liked the second part less, when Lawrence's character changes. Moreover, although the rebellion comes to a high point, I found that the stakes were less involving than in the first part. This is why the movie didn't get a 10/10. Also maybe because it feels strange that Arabs lords are played by the British and American actors Guiness and Quinn, although their make-up is extremely well done and I didn't recognize them at first, and their great acting makes up for the odd choice. By the way Alec Guiness with a beard and wearing robes, involved in a rebellion in the desert has a certain feel of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Clearly one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, and absolutely deserving its seven Academy Awards.
Rating: 9 /10