Clearly there's something wrong with him psychologically, but the film never makes an effort to discover what that is. It is content to present us with a Lawrence that is simply flawed for no discernible reason. Whether it is that Lawrence himself lacks the ability (or the stomach) to fully explore the depths of who he is, or the film is too respectful of him to make such assumptions, or something else altogether remains to be seen. But the result is a character who the audience never sees as three-dimensional with motives and honest emotions. What we see is a cross between the man in the newspaper and the real thing, as played by a Shakespearian actor who sometimes looks as if he's just come out of his trailer.

All of this makes Lawrence of Arabia sound like rubbish, like some overrated piece of cinema that hasn't aged well for the new millennium. It isn't. There are a hundred reasons to love Lawrence of Arabia, from the cinematography to the score to the script to the direction to the performances of Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn. And there are just as many reviews out there that will tell you as much, but I can only speak from my experience of how the film played when I watched it on DVD in my apartment late on a Wednesday night. When all was said and done, it was a film that I respected more than I liked. I never felt I was watching great cinema unfurl on screen as much as an expertly-made epic with little emotional investment on my part. It reminded me of the collected works of Anthony Minghella[8], a director who's films always feel just a little too long and a little too clean. They don't feel alive, and neither does this. It misses greatness by the smallest of margins.

[1] I have no idea if that's true, but it could be.

[2] The film doesn't tell us where that is, as it apparently isn't all that important, and I'm too lazy to figure it out for myself. It could be a British Military Hall of Fame, if they have such a thing.

[3] The other six were: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Picture, and Best Sound. It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Peter O'Toole), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Omar Sharif), and Best Adapted Screenplay.