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Thom Hartmann's Independent Thinker Review
June, 2009
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Review -- Exclusively for BuzzFlash -- for June,
2009: Lawrence of Arabia DVD (Collector's Edition, 2
discs) (Also, remember that you can pre-order an
autographed copy of Thom's own new book, "Threshold: The
Crisis of Western Culture" (Hardcover), by clicking "http://www.buzzflash.com/store/items/1560">
here
Reviewed by Thom Hartmann
Back on Iyyar 2, 5769 (that's April 26th of this year to most Americans) the most left of Israel's major newspapers, Haaretz, published an article by Amer Oren titled, “Why Lawrence of Arabia is still relevant, from Gaza to Kabul.” I resolved to watch the movie, and ordered the CD from a popular online seller. Last week I caught enough time (it runs over 3 hours) to watch it. Oren was right.
The movie was first released in 1963 and stars Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence, Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal, Anthony Quinn as Auda abu Tayi, and Omar Sarif as Serif Ali ibn el Kharish. The movie takes place during World War I, and largely based on real characters and real events (there's a great analysis of what is and isn't in its Wikipedia entry).
Its critical essence – what provoked Oren to write his piece for Haaretz and led Admiral Eric Olson, the chief of US Special Operations Command in the Middle East to initiate last year “Project Lawrence” – is the story of Lawrence, a British Army officer, who comes to know the culture of the local Arabs so intimately that he is able to lead them in a world-changing uprising and several major battles against the then-massive Turkish Ottoman Empire.
There are a number of subtexts to the movie, and given recent US and British adventures in the region, some that weren't even intended by David Lean and Sam Spiegel, its director and producer. First among these is how the British apparently hadn't learned a thing since the American Revolution about taking on a foreign army that's nationalistic, decentralized, and fights in an unconventional fashion. They also had (have?) never given up their insufferable assumption of absolute cultural superiority relative to virtually everybody but particularly with regard to people who live tribally.
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