Lawrence of Arabia

This was fine. I'm not going to nitpick its historical accuracy or lack thereof (from what I've read, it's not very). I'm not going to harp on it for whitewashing Arab roles with white people (it's a gross practice, but it's something they did back then, there's no changing in it). All I can do is judge it on its merits, and in that regard ... it's fine. It is yet another Best Picture winner where someone confused size and scope, but for me, its flaws run deeper than that. At close to four hours, Lawrence barely has enough character progression or story to fill half that. Lawrence is barely more than an outline of a person, a generic action movie hero, an archetypal chosen one. Every time he has a crisis of faith or wavers in his conviction, one of his commanding officers says "stiff upper lip, old chap", and he's raring to go again. The movie does an adequate job telling the story it wants to tell, but gives no greater context to how Lawrence's maneuvers fit into the larger overall picture of the African war theater in World War I, let alone why Lawrence feels as passionately as he does about helping the Arabs defeat the Turks. The way Lawrence of Arabia relays these events, even as fictionalized as they are, puts them in some sort of historical, geographical, and political bubble. Even if you don't know the extent to which the movie distorts history, it feels oddly sanitized and lacking any reference points to its historical relevance. Yes, the movie is gorgeous to look at, the acting is excellent, and the score is majestic. But it's almost four hours of a repetitive story cycle and no actual exploration or examination of a historical figure. I don't expect perfect adherence to the facts, that's not how Hollywood works. But Lawrence takes a story that could be fascinating and educational and strips it of any importance or relevance. I couldn't bring myself to care when the movie didn't, and that's an insurmountable obstacle for any movie, let alone one that'll take up a quarter of your day.