In general, this film is considered one of the great epics, in the same category as
Ben Hur and
Gone with the Wind, but in my opinion falls short. Yes, it has Peter O'Toole in his tour de force performance, as well as Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, and Anthony Quinn. Realizing that to my present day sensibilities the film is dated, it really has no conflict. Yes, Lawrence must 'fight' against the desert and unite the Arabs, but there is no personal growth in the character or Lawrence after the rape at Daraa. The film is saved by a spectaculor score and cinematography.
I, for some inexplicable reason, greatly dislike Stephen Spielberg, but I concede he is a good director--Schindler's List proves this. The film is very stylistically shot and which dealing with a highly sensitive issue keeps from resorting to outright sentimentality. Ralph Fiennes is at his hateable best and in my opinion out acts Liam Neeson. Ben Kingsley is commendable and carries the film with his subtlety, which is a foil to Fiennes villany. The film was criticized with being sensationalist with it's gratutitous use of nudity and gore, but I feel that a topic such as this should be presented as it is, and quite simply this is, and should not be a children's film (or even an aide for teaching the Holocaust, which it often has).