4K RESTORATION
Director: David Lean
Runtime: 227 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English, Arabic, Turkish
Rating: PG
*The 50th anniversary restored version of this film will be presented in two parts with built-in overture, intermission, entr’acte and exit music. The intermission will be 10 minutes long.
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Awards
BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR & 5 more
Academy Awards 1963
BEST BRITISH FILM
BEST BRITISH ACTOR (Peter O’ Toole)
BEST BRITISH SCREENPLAY
BAFTA Awards 1963
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA & 5 more
Golden Globes 1963
“Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it.”
– Ali in Lawrence of Arabia
Full Synopsis
At first glance a monumental historical fanfare, Lawrence of Arabia follows the eponymous hero, British Lieutenant T.E. Lawrence, who appears to single-handedly lead the disparate Bedouin tribes to victory against the Turkish in the Arab Revolt of the First World War. Hailed as a desert-loving warrior, Lawrence’s triumphant rite of passage through the sweltering dunes serves as an allegory of Western achievement through taming the merciless desert.
A probing dialectic emerges when Lawrence’s psyche is confronted with a dissonance – one that reveals the paradox of heroism and the conflict between history and myth, simulacrum and reality. Consumed by his own imaginations of the unabating Arabian landscapes, Lawrence’s fascination with the Arabs reaches its peak when he sheds his British uniform for a striking white robe and headdress, appropriating an identity of the land he symbolically conquers.
Oldham Theatre’s opening hours
The full Orienting Paradise: Western Projections of the East programme can be found here. Tickets will go on sale Friday, 25 March 2022.
Friends of AFA members may select the “Friends of AFA” option and enter your membership number if you wish to redeem your remaining complimentary tickets.
For further assistance, please contact us at ticketing@asianfilmarchive.org
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