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RonPrice
Restricted
Gender: Male Location: George Town Tasmania Australia Account Restricted |
Lawrence of Arabia: A Personal Comment
Rather than try to answer a series of quiz-type questions on the Lawrence of Arabia film, I'll post a personal comment on the film and its relationship with my life.
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THE CINEMATOGRAPHY WAS GRAND
Perhaps I was attracted to the autobiographical aspect, the epic story, of a larger-than-life adventurer, T.E. Lawrence's Arabian adventure in Lawrence of Arabia. Perhaps it was the impressive cinematography. By the time I came to write this prose-poem I had been working on my own autobiography for 23 years and I had seen the film twice in the 47 years since the start of its production history began back in October 1959, the month I joined the Bahá’í Faith. The film, Lawrence of Arabia, was first released three months after my own pioneering venture began in Canada in September 1962.
Lawrence's life and personality were enigmatic and complex, sexually problematic and excessively arrogant and solitary and adventurous. These are qualities I have myself exhibited, some more than others; they are features of life many people find characterize their own days, especially when they go to write their autobiography. Lawrence's task, among others, was to unite the Arabian Bedouins against their Turkish oppressors. My task was one of trying to bring unity to a people as well, although in the years 1959 to 1962 I had no idea of the scale, the nature and the complexity of the exercise.
I don't want to summarize the story of Lawrence or the movie here, suffice it to say, the cinematography was breathtaking and some argue that this is the main reason for seeing the film. Lawrence seemed to possess the paradoxical qualities of a man blinded by his ego, desirous of fame and yet at the same time self-effacing. The film works with themes of fate and war, Arab tribal disunity and national politics. Lawrence exists as a dark, blank shadow, a complex, jelly-like personality in a brightly it desert. He is a man incomprehensible even to those who knew him best: intelligent, charismatic and slightly mad. In the end he can not bring unity to the Arab tribes, cannot create an Arab state. Unity is elusive for them for many reasons as it is elusive for us. The pioneers of our generation can but construct a portion of it, a stage along the way.-Ron Price, Pioneering Over Four Epochs, 28 December, 2006.
I had no idea back then that
I would be a bit mad, too, as
I journied across the deserts,
the Arctic-ice and the great
tracts of land playing my part
in trying to unite the peoples
of the Earth who did not seem
to want to unite at least through
the mechanism which I advised
and suggested again and again
for over fifty years, say, back to
'56 as they were just starting to
go to the moon and rock-'n-roll.
The cinematography could be
magnificent in the hands of a
David Lean and poetic imagery
with super panavision 70 mm scope.
My, you could capture the hills and
valleys of my life with a spectacular
epic story, a much larger-than-life
idealistic adventurer and reduce my
several decades to, say, 222 minutes.
Ron Price
28 December 2006
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Dec 28th, 2006 09:41 AM |
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Impediment
Endless
Gender: Male Location: The Dreaming Moderator |
and............................?
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“Dreams shape the world."
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Dec 29th, 2006 07:57 AM |
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The Wishmaster
Senior Member
Gender: Female Location: Australia |
I saw that film today, I was disapointed with it, it bored me to tears, and the acting was terrible.
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Jan 1st, 2007 11:19 AM |
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