http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2014/01/lawrence-of-arabia-reappraisal.html
Actor Peter O’Toole’s death in December has sparked a reappraisal of “Lawrence of Arabia,” the movie and the man. Just how much did the enigmatic figure of Lawrence contribute to today’s Islamic woes?
When you move through the years and acquire knowledge of things you liked and the wisdom to dislike them when they show their true colors, it is time to put some distance between you and the objects of that youthful admiration.
For me, at least, this is true of that great 1962 epic, “Lawrence of Arabia.” I first saw it in my senior year of high school, in 1963. It knocked me flat, psychologically speaking. I had a free pass to the movie theater in which it was showing; I must have seen it a dozen times. Today, in retrospect, I cannot say anything against the direction, cinematography, cast, Robert Bolt’s screenplay, and grand scale theme of the picture. They all met the criteria of what a movie should meet when a director intends it to be a defining epic. I did not care much for director David Lean’s later pictures. Yet, “Lawrence of Arabia” in no small way influenced my desire to become a novelist.
The occasion of actor Peter O’Toole’s death on December 14th apparently prompted Israeli writer and TV commentator Reuven Berko to pen a column “The Final Death of Lawrence of Arabia.” O’Toole made a spectacular screen debut playing T.E. Lawrence. It won several Oscars, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and was even nominated for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, and Horror Films. In his article, Berko does what I had wanted to do for years, but had other writing commitments to meet: call director David Lean’s bluff.