Nobody Knows Hollywood

Director: David Lean Year: 1962 Lawrence of Arabia matters, not just for and by itself as a film widely regarded as one of the best, but also for what went in to making it and what it represents in terms of the nature of creativity. Young filmmakers often talk about the need or desire to change the scope of the art form by doing something groundbreaking but few have the gall, ability or, perhaps madness, necessary to pull it off. Director David Lean is said to have gotten his inspiration in imagining what it would be like to see a speck appear on the horizon of the desert and slowly grow into a human being. That’s the central image and argument to hold for the nearly four hour running time. How can this seemingly insignificant man appear against the depths of the brutal and impervious desert and expect to become anything? Faith, courage and a burning desire to prove the naysayers wrong. “Nothing is written,” Lawrence reminds us. Those things being said, if you can’t ...