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| Lawrence of Arabia (1962) | |
| Plot Synopsis (continued)
Riding "in the name of Feisal and Mecca" and without Brighton's knowledge, Lawrence is allowed to take a small force of fifty of Feisal's men to set out for Aqaba "to work your miracle." For pragmatic reasons (and as a counterpoint to the strong-willed Lawrence), Sherif Ali joins the "Englishman" to cross the blazing Nefud Desert. At an oasis stop at the beginning of their journey, two outcaste boys Ferraj (Michel Ray) and Daud (John Dimech) who have secretly followed the guerrillas are appointed to be Lawrence's servants, although Ali disapproves after whipping them: "These are not servants. These are worshippers." One of the tribal Arabs named Gasim (I. S. Johar) interprets Lawrence's kindness as a good omen: "They will be lucky for you. Allah favors the compassionate." When they reach the edge of the beginning of the Nefud Desert, Sherif Ali again reminds the single-minded Lawrence that the murderously-hot desert is impossible to cross:
The awesome Arabian desert crossing is treacherous - searing heat in the "Sun's Anvil," dust storms and swirling cyclones - an endless trek that exhausts and kills some of the men. As they begin to reach the end of the desert, it is noticed that Gasim's camel is riderless, and Lawrence unhesitatingly insists and proposes going back for him:
In a triumphant sequence, the heroic, courageous Lawrence retraces his steps, finds the half-dead Gasim (who has been wandering aimlessly), rescues him, and returns into the oasis/camp with Gasim clinging to his saddle. As his camel mount is surrounded by the men, the now-charismatic, sun-baked-faced "Englishman" gives a penetrating, searing look at Ali, and before drinking from water offered to him, he defiantly and proudly repeats himself (in a parched voice):
Later, Ali acknowledges Lawrence's remarkable, dramatic, miraculous rescue. The young "Englishman" is given an easier-to-pronounce, deified, Arabian name as a symbol of his rebirth and new identity. He replaces his bastard heritage with an Arabian one:
As he sleeps that night, Ali throws his British uniform/clothes into the camp fire and burns them. Lawrence's first, transfigured appearance in spotlessly-white Arab/Harith robes is unforgettable. Inside a circle of Arabs, Lawrence is told of his new being and heritage - as an Arab:
Piercingly blue-eyed and innocent, Lawrence proudly struts on a camel in his new apparel and rides off to an isolated area - symbolic of his separateness. He dismounts from his camel and contemplates his new costume - play-acting and fantasizing that he is an Arabian knight. Using his knife blade as a shiny mirror, he conceitedly holds it in front of him to view and adjust his headgear. [Later in the film after the massacre at Tafas, Lawrence again scrutinizes his face in his dagger blade.] He self-consciously smiles to himself, practices turning and bowing and various other theatrical postures, and then laughs outloud. Finally, he outstretches his arms like the wings of a plane, letting his robe balloon out behind him. As the wind catches his robe, he runs in a half-circle until his play-acting is interrupted by the appearance (on horseback) of hook-nosed, avaricious Auda abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn), the Arab chief of the Howeitat clan:
A tense confrontation over drinking rights occurs at the well between Auda (and his young son brandishing a pistol), Ali, and Lawrence - who has his hands raised high into the air:
Auda eventually grants his "hospitality" and invites them to dine with him, and the Harith Arabs are grandly welcomed to the Howeitat encampment. In his tent, the vain Auda asks about their Aqaba mission against the Turks. Lawrence speaks of Arab unity and seeks to identify himself with the Arab cause:
Auda declares that the Turks pay him 100 golden guineas each month as service. Lawrence calls Auda's buy-off an insignificant amount, playing upon his pride and mercenary desires to recruit him to join them in battling against the Ottoman Turks at Aqaba. Auda is cautious of being seduced by Lawrence's wily, 'feminine' view of things, thinking: "You trouble me like women":
In their camp the night before the attack on Aqaba's undefended landward side, a potentially divisive event occurs that could split the rival tribes into a bloody feud, as Ali forecasts: "This is the end of Aqaba." One of the Harith Arabs has murdered one of Auda's men and the reason could be one of many: "theft, blood feud, it makes no matter why...It is an ancient wound." As a non-Arab neutral who stands above petty tribal rivalries and age-old blood feuds ("I have no tribe, and no one is offended"), Lawrence proposes to even-handedly execute the offender - becoming 'godlike' by deciding for himself who shall live or die. As the offender raises his head, Lawrence sees it is Gasim - the man whose life he saved in the Nefud desert when he risked his own life. With a look of disturbed shock, he cold-bloodedly fires all six shots from his pistol into Gasim's body. The two rival chieftains exchange words about the just execution and the emotional uncertainty displayed by Lawrence:
The sea fortress at Aqaba is attacked the next morning, and the camera tracks the galloping approach of Lawrence's mounted group of Arab tribesmen as it overruns the Turkish garrison and reaches the sea - a sweeping pan of the city finds the powerful guns mounted toward the sea. After conquering the city, Lawrence rides his camel along the waterfront, bathed in the deep orangish-red color of the setting sun reflected on the seashore's water. Ali appears behind Lawrence (the "conqueror"), throwing him a red wreath of flowers that lands in the surf at his feet - but feeling like the outsider, Lawrence cannot accept the accolades of victory:
Lawrence instructs Ali to send a message to summon Prince Feisal and the Arab army on boats to Aqaba. His own plans are to go back to Cairo to report the victory, but Ali doubts Lawrence's true Arab loyalty:
The excitable, emotional Auda is angered and displeased while looting the Aqaba garrison when he finds only paper money and not a "box of gold." To appease his ally, Lawrence makes out a voucher for payment of gold to Auda before crossing the Sinai to reach Cairo:
While crossing the Sinai, Lawrence spots a cyclone of dust that he calls "a pillar of fire," alluding to Moses. A ferocious sandstorm confronts them, and Lawrence accidentally drops his compass. To keep from going in circles, they must ride "due West" toward the golden disc of the setting sun on the horizon. Daud is lost in a sinkhole - the desert's version of quicksand, and Lawrence is unable to use his headdress as a lifeline. [This tragic scene would be referenced in George Miller's post-apocalyptic action/adventure Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985).] Lawrence broods over the death of his young servant boy/follower. Ferraj throws water on his dusty face to awaken him from his trance. |
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In
a second confrontation with Sherif Ali (Ali represented by a dark
profiled image on the right of the frame, Lawrence by a blonder,
paler, blue-eyed image on the left of the frame), Lawrence is accused
of being stark-raving mad, or at the least, arrogant for proposing
a painful, arduous trek across the beautiful but waterless, sun-drenched
Nefud Desert: