This was one of the films that inspired this resolution. My interest was first piqued when it came up in Andrew Stanton's TED Talk on storytelling as an example of "theme". Then this year, in the HBO doc on him, Spielberg mentioned seeing it over and over as a kid. From then, I grew a desire to see this epic influencer of influencers.
And epic indeed. Clocking in at 3 hours and 42 minutes (complete with an overture and exit music), this movie is a hell of a commitment. I suppose that's my one gripe with it--If I were editing it, I think I could have managed to leave a few more sand dunes on the cutting room floor for audience comfort. Apparently over the years it's been clipped down and yet, in its classic-movie fame, has been given this 222 minute rerelease.
Still, I agree that this film deserves as much praise as it receives. Peter O'Tool and Omar Sharif gave amazing performances and (Obi Wan.0 himself) Sir Alec Guinness wasn't nearly as insulting as an Arab prince as I expected. LOL... #acting The visuals were excellent; it was a great example of the expansive "craft" of filmmaking, before CGI.
In Andrew Staton's TED Talk, he shows the scene at the Suez Canal, with a biker shouting "Who are you?!" and suggests that Lawrence's search to discover himself is the driving theme. For me, this was not only true, but it remained unanswered by the end of the film. There was no pretty-bow placed on this film at the end and it was far more disjointed than I imagined it would be--by design, I trust. But then again, who are any of us, really? #shittyphilosopher