Two posts ago I mentioned how Citizen Kane is considered one of the greatest films of all time, if not the greatest. I'm gonna talk about another contender for the greatest film of all time, and my personal favorite: David Lean's cinematic masterpiece, Lawrence of Arabia. This film centers around T.E. Lawrence, a snarky lieutenant in the British Army during World War One, and his assignment to assess the Arab rebellion against the Turks. Throughout the film, Lawrence begins to bond and sympathize with the natives, eventually growing to be a leader among them.
This "displaced soldier" concept has been redone numerous times. Most notablely by two distinct films, Dances With Wolves, and James Cameron's Avatar. The latter garnered a lot of criticism for being too close in plot the the former, but it seems Arabia's influence on both films slid under the radar.
While all 3 films a quite long, the length of Arabia pays off the most because you see Lawrence's character shift into a man who is truly torn by who he has become, in contrast to Wolves and Avatar, where you see little regret from the protagonists after they have made their transition of allegiances. This gives Arabia a much more real and grounded feel. And the act of Lawrence being ostracized by the people he's led also aids to this feeling. In comparison Avatar and Wolves are much more optimistic and hopeful, which is not inherently bad, but tends to be less appealing in my personal opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment