Lots of inaccuracies
Reader comment on item: Guest Column: The Final Death of Lawrence of Arabia

Submitted by Edward Cline, Jan 11, 2014 09:28

In reply to Ted: Yes, there were plenty of inaccuracies. For example, the still that illustrates this article is taken from the scene when Lawrence is in one of his "emotional" states, pulled in one direction to lead his army on to Damascus and bypassing a retreating Turkish column, and in another to attack the column, partly in vengeance for the slaughtered village the Turks have left behind and in part for his rape by the Turks in Derra. The column is massacred, but there is no scene depicting a German unit that successfully fought off the attacking tribesmen. Also, in that scene is shown a Saudi warrior with the green Saudi banner. However, the Saudis, who were just another tribe, were not allies of Lawrence, who was fighting for the rival Hashemites and King Hussein, so that warrior just didn't belong there. The Saudis later conquered all of the Arabian peninsula without Lawrence's help (bu with plenty of British help; by then, Lawrence, ever flighty, had retired and gone into hiding in the Army or RAF as a mechanic) under the name of Ross). Another gross inaccuracy was the attack on Aqaba. A daring charge is depicted in the movie, but in fact the Turks had agreed to a surrender and Lawrence's Arab army simply walked in. There are photographs of the "charge." I could go on with more inaccuracies and inconsistencies, but I think I've made my point.

I must agree with Berko; the movie does romanticize the Arabs in the movie, and inflates Lawrence's role in the Arabs' fight for "independence." But this romanticization of Arabs and Islam is nothing new; writers and artists have been doing that for nigh on two centuries. See Ibn Warraq's excellent book, "Sir Walter Scott: The Crusades and Other Fantasies," for example. Painting the Arabs in rosy colors doesn't do justice to them; they remain "greedy, barbarous, and cruel," in no small part because of the nature of Islam itself.

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