[Sauron the White]

Just spent the afternoon watching a HD version of the masterful and beautiful David Dean film LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. It is rightfully considered as one of the greatest films of all time. I was inspired to go to the net and find out more about both Lawrence and the film. I was struck by an article in wikipedia which basically said the film was not accurate at all. It deviated greatly from the book and from accounts of nearly all who were the principal real life characters. If there was an Accuracy Meter, it would have registered rather low on the scale.

the article can be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_of_Arabia_(film)

here are the relevant parts

Historical accuracy
The historical accuracy of the film, and particularly its portrayal of Lawrence himself, has been called into question by numerous scholars. Most of the film's characters are either real or based on real characters to varying degrees. The events depicted in the film are largely based on accepted historical fact and Lawrence's own writing about events, though they have various degrees of romanticisation.

Some scenes — such as the attack on Aqaba — were heavily fictionalized, while those dealing with the Arab Council were inaccurate, in as much as the council remained more or less in power in Syria until France deposed Feisal in 1920. The theme (in the second half of the film) that Lawrence's Arab army deserted almost to a man as he moved further north was completely fictional. The film's timeline of the Arab Revolt and World War I, and the geography of the Hedjaz region, are frequently questionable. For instance, Bentley interviews Feisal in late 1917, after the fall of Aqaba, saying the United States has not yet entered the war; yet America had been in the war for several months by that point in time. Further, Lawrence's involvement in the Arab Revolt prior to the attack on Aqaba — such as his involvement in the seizures of Yenbo and Wejh — is completely excised.


[edit] Representation of Lawrence
Many complaints about the film's accuracy, however, centre on the characterization of Lawrence himself.


The real Lawrence of Arabia in the white silk robes of the Sherifs of Mecca.The perceived problems with the portrayal of Lawrence begin with the differences in his physical appearance: 6-foot 2-inch Peter O'Toole was almost nine inches taller than the real Lawrence. His behavior, however, has caused much more debate.

The screenwriters depict Lawrence as an egotist. Lawrence actually shunned the limelight, as evidenced by his attempts after the war to hide under various assumed names. Even during the war, Lowell Thomas wrote in With Lawrence in Arabia that he could only take pictures of him by tricking him (though he did later agree to pose for several pictures for Thomas's stage show). Thomas's famous comment that Lawrence "had a genius for backing into the limelight" referred to the fact that his extraordinary actions prevented him from being as private as he would have liked. Others disagree, pointing to Lawrence's own writings in Seven Pillars of Wisdom to support the argument that he was egotistical.

A controversial choice is the portrayal of Lawrence as being repulsed by violence while also enjoying it. The real Lawrence was far from a pacifist before the war; indeed, he was a crack shot with a pistol (his preferred weapon being a Colt .45 Peacemaker) and enjoyed practising at shooting ranges when he could. There is no record of his feeling any particular remorse over the Tafas massacre in his writings or other correspondence (it was, after all, retaliation by the Bedouin for the Turks' sack of the village). Lawrence was remorseful to some extent over the number of Turks (and Arabs) killed in his campaigns (as is clear throughout Seven Pillars of Wisdom and his other writings), but the depiction of him as a sadist who enjoyed violence is based on no historical evidence.

It should be pointed out that Lawrence was aware of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, contrary to the film, but he hoped that the Arabs' contribution to the Allied victory would convince the Allies to grant the Arabs their independence. Lawrence was, as the film suggests, torn between loyalty to the British and his promises to the Arabs; but by omitting his knowledge of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the film removes the catalyst for this conflict.


[edit] Representation of other characters

Jack Hawkins as General AllenbyThe film's portrayal of General Allenby as a cynical, manipulative superior is not entirely accurate either. Allenby and Lawrence respected and liked each other; Lawrence once said of Allenby that he was "an admiration of mine",[2] and later that "[he was] physically large and confident, and morally so great that the comprehension of our littleness came slow to him".[3] Allenby, for his part, remarked upon Lawrence's death that "I have lost a good friend and a valued comrade. Lawrence was under my command, but, after acquainting him with my strategical plan, I gave him a free hand. His co-operation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign,"[4] (in contrast to the fictional Allenby's words at Lawrence's funeral in the film) and spoke highly of him on numerous other occasions. It seems likely that this characterization of Allenby is in large part due to the screenwriters' anti-war sentiments. While Allenby admittedly did manipulate Lawrence during the war, their relationship lasted for years after its end, indicating that, in real-life, they were friendly, if not terribly close. Similarly, General Murray, though initially skeptical of the Arab Revolt's potential, thought highly of Lawrence's abilities as an intelligence officer; the intense dislike shown towards Lawrence in the film is in fact the opposite of Murray's real feelings.

The depiction of Auda abu Tayi as a man only interested in loot and money is also at odds with the historical record. While Auda did at first join the Arab Revolt for monetary reasons, he quickly became a steadfast supporter of Arab independence and only abandoned the cause after the collapse of the Arab government in Damascus. He was present with Lawrence from the beginning of the Aqaba expedition, and in fact helped plan it along with Feisal I of Iraq.

Feisal, far from being the middle-aged man depicted, was in reality in his early thirties at the time of the revolt.[5] While Feisal was considered by Lawrence to be a wise and insightful man, he also had a nasty sense of humour (often involving practical jokes) which is not evident in the film. He also did not speak English, whereas in the film he is quite fluent.

A particularly telling fact of the film's inaccuracies are the reaction of those who knew Lawrence and the other characters. The most vehement critic of the film's inaccuracy was Professor A.W. Lawrence, T.E.'s younger brother and literary executor who had given the rights to Seven Pillars of Wisdom to Sam Spiegel for ƒ25,000. Lawrence went on a campaign in the US and Britain denouncing the film, famously saying that "I should not have recognized my own brother". Lowell Thomas was also critical of the portrayal of Lawrence and most of the film's characters, feeling that the train attack scenes were the only reasonably accurate aspect of the film.

The criticisms were not restricted to Lawrence. The Allenby family lodged a formal complaint against Columbia about the portrayal of their ancestor. Descendants of Auda abu Tayi and the real Sherif Ali (despite the fact that the film's Ali was fictional) went further, actively suing Columbia due to the portrayal of their ancestors. The Auda case went on for almost ten years before it was finally dropped.[

However, it brings me back to one of the things discussed here from time to time - if a film needs to be accurate to its source material. Very clearly, in LAWRENCE, we have a superior film by almost every standard of measurment and it has certainly proved the test of time as well being around for some 46 years and yet to be surpassed. I cannot imagine any knowledgable person claiming that it is not a good film, nay even a great film, because it was not accurate to the real life personage of its personalities or to the events portrayed.

I realize that on this site there are many who concede that the LOTR films were indeed successful in terms of box office revenues, professional critical response and industry awards but still argue against it because it was not accurate to the books as much as they would have liked.

Does not the experience of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA illustrate how meaningless this false test of accuracy is in discussing the quality of a film?