As stated in my very first post, the Eucatastrophe Blog is not just about critiquing books but also movies and musicals, and today is my first go at film criticism. Now, fair warning, I am a bit of a film nerd, and although I do enjoy action movies like nearly all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I really enjoy artistic movies and have a special place in my heart for classic films. So, while I may foray into more popular and modern fare as the spirit moves me, many of my film posts will be about old classics like Citizen Kane and Casablanca. While I will likely get to both of those in time, I want to start with another great classic which I recently watched for the first time: Lawrence of Arabia.
If you are unfamiliar with it, Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 epic historical drama directed by the great British director David Lean. The story of real life British army officer T.E. Lawrence and his work among the Arabs during World War I, it is often considered one of the most influential films in the history of movies. At three hours and forty two minutes and with its booming and dramatic score and sweeping vista shots of the Arabian desert, this movie more than lives up to the title of epic. In it, Lawrence is an English officer stationed in Egypt, saddled with a boring desk job in Cairo while the British fight the Turks in Arabia but longing to put his considerable talents to greater use. Lawrence is sent on a diplomatic mission to the Arab Prince Faisal, whom his superiors do not think will be of any help in the war against the Turks. Lawrence, however, quickly falls in love with the vast sandy desert and with the Arab people who inhabit it and encourages Faisal and the other leaders to risk a supposedly impossible mission that could help the English greatly and hurt the Turks. Under Lawrence’s leadership, the attack is successful and Lawrence is authorized by the army to begin a guerilla war against the Turks with the Arabs who have essentially adopted him. In the end, they even conquer the main Turkish stronghold of Damascus before the English army can even get there and Lawrence is hailed as a hero, though his identity becomes somewhat conflicted and blackened along the way and he is not entirely at home with either the Arabs or the English.
I had often heard how great this movie was, but only just watched it a few weeks ago when my wife was gone all night at a bachelorette party sleep over for her friend. Since I had the apartment to myself all night, I decided to rent this lengthy epic and finally see it for myself. Knowing the premise of the story already, I was rather surprised at how it both fulfilled and defied my expectations and was very pleased with how complex and good it was. What I had expected the movie to be, since it was from the 1960s and about a white man helping a bunch of brown-skinned tribesmen fix their problems, was a fairly typical and slightly racist white savior story. If you are unfamiliar with this idea of the white savior, it is a European story trope in which a white character (almost always male) comes among a group of indigenous people and is the one who saves them when they are unable to save themselves. While it is often good intentioned, the idea of a white savior comes out of the racist idea of “the white man’s burden” and assumes European superiority over native peoples around the globe. White saviors appear all throughout our stories, from Tarzan and Allan Quatermain in classic fiction to the comic superhero Iron Fist and Lt. John Dunbar in the movie Dances With Wolves, and T.E. Lawrence certainly is one. Played by the impeccably handsome blond and blue-eyed Peter O’Toole in his first big role, Lawrence looks every bit the white messiah come to save the helpless brown skinned lower classes. It is only because of this unique and dynamic Englishman who inspires them that the various Arab tribes are able to stop fighting each other and deal a critical blow to the Turkish army. Also, the movie makes several other somewhat racist missteps, key among them the longstanding problem of casting white actors as non-white characters. The Arab Prince Faisal is played by English actor, Alec Guinness, the original Ben Kenobi from Star Wars. While he does a good job with this role, a Middle Eastern actor could have done it just as well and more authentically and justly. This is proven by the outstanding performance of great Egyptian actor Omar Sharif (also in his breakout role) as Sherif Ali, the only actual Middle Eastern actor to have a significant role in the movie. These elements of a white savior and character whitewashing should trouble us because they do not reflect the diverse real world we live in or the vision of a Kingdom of God in which every tribe, tongue, and nation join together to praise the risen lamb. These failings show that Lawrence of Arabia, like all great stories, is still imperfect. Total depravity strikes again. Hey, at least we don’t have to worry about character whitewashing anymore, right? (cough, Scarlet Johansson, cough, cough)
However, what really surprised me about Lawrence of Arabia now that I have finally seen it for myself is how surprisingly complex and, in many ways, not racist it was. Though he is a white savior, Lawrence is surprisingly respectful and knowledgeable about his Arab allies and throughout the movie seeks to prevent the British from conquering Arabia for themselves once they drive out the Turks. Lawrence even helps form an Arab council after the fall of Damascus to rule so that the British will not assume control. In the end, sadly, the council proves unable to rule and the British take over, and this breaks Lawrence’s heart. The Arabs in many ways are portrayed as more honorable than the British, whose imperial aims are portrayed as very wrong. That is not what I expected to see in such an old movie and I was very glad to see it counterbalancing the white savior storyline.
Even more interesting and complex from a Christian criticism perspective, however, is the fact that Lawrence clearly sees himself as a larger than life savior figure. His messiah complex is reflected in everything from the flowing white robes he wears and a conscious comparison of himself to Moses to his obsession with the idea, as the movie’s famous quote puts it, that “for some men, nothing is written unless they write it.” Lawrence is something of a megalomaniac who believes that with just his courage, charisma, and determination, he can defy fate, the Turks, and the British to win the war and create a united and independent Arab nation. One of the most famous scenes has him walking along the top of a captured Turkish train, spotless white robes flapping majestically in the wind as his adoring followers flock beneath him. This scene, buoyed up by the gorgeous score, gives off such a sense of power and majesty that it could almost be Jesus walking across the stormy sea.
And yet, he is not Jesus. Only Jesus really has the power to save us, and surprisingly the movie seems very aware of this. Again, I had expected an epic from the early sixties to have a pretty straightforward perfect hero, but I was quite off. Lawrence of Arabia is a significantly more complex and interesting story than that. Though an unquestionably great man, T.E. Lawrence is nothing if not a flawed savior. All of his best laid plans to unite the Arabs and defy fate and the British fall apart in the end, showing that he was not nearly so able to write his own fate as he thought. Also, the deeply moral Lawrence on two occasions gives into bloodlust and is disgusted to find that he enjoys killing. In addition to this, he on several occasions gets his innocent followers killed by accident and feels deeply disturbed and guilty as a result. These feelings of disgust and failure are elegantly symbolized in one scene by Lawrence returning to the civilization of Cairo completely caked in sand and physically and emotionally exhausted. As an extension of his messiah complex, Lawrence is obsessed with cleanliness and purity, once remarking that he loves the desert because it is clean. As just mentioned, however, he is unable to keep himself either physically or emotionally clean. He just can’t do it on his own. Such a man needs a real savior to help him bear his yoke and to wash him clean in the blood of Christ and the water of life.
Though Lawrence wins the war and gets to go home a hero, the final scene of the movie is not a triumphal victory march but rather a lonely drive through the desert as some passing soldiers sing a song about missing home. This ending is somewhat ambivalent and a little sad because Lawrence is forced to realize that he is not the savior he thought he was and has as many regrets and failures as he has triumphs and victories. This is a superb ending to a complex movie that, despite some missteps in the white savior and whitewashing departments, reminds us of our desire to be our own saviors and our inability to do so. My only hope in life and in death is that Jesus will write my story for me, for I cannot write in for myself.
May Christ, the only true savior, guide you through all the deserts of your life,
Aaron
Eucatastrophe Blog 