A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia

A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia
T.E. Lawrence
Directed by	Christopher Menaul
Produced by	Celia Bannerman
Written by	Tim Rose Price
Starring	Ralph Fiennes Siddig el-fadil Denis Quilley
Running time	107 min.
Language	English

A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia is a made-for-TV movie from 1990 depicting the events involving T. E. Lawrence and Emir Feisal at the Paris peace conference following the end of World War I. The film stars Ralph Fiennes (in his first film role) as T. E. Lawrence, Alexander Siddig (then credited as Siddig El-Fadil) as Feisal, Denis Quilley as Lord Curzon and Nicholas Jones as Lord Dyson.

The film was produced in 1990, a year after David Lean's original historic epic was re-released to theatres. It serves as a sort of unofficial sequel to the 1962 film, as it depicts the events which happened after the Great War.

The film's screenplay was written by Tim Rose Price, who enlisted the help of Robert Bolt, one of the screenwriters for the original Lawrence film, for advice on story, plotting, and the portrayal of Lawrence. Bolt's son Ben was originally to have directed, with Christopher Menaul ultimately directing the film.

The film is more overtly political than its predecessor, but also tries to further explore Lawrence's enigmatic personality.

Synopsis

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The film starts with a name-giving quote from Lawrence's book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom:

"All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to find that it was vanity; But the dreamers of day are dangerous men. That they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible."

It continues with Feisal's arrival at the Paris post-war peace conference cum “division of war booty”--delayed by French diplomats uncertain of his intentions—and Lawrence joining his negotiating staff despite attempts by the French (and British) to exclude the Arabs altogether. (The only country portrayed sympathetically is the United States, with Woodrow Wilson’s dictum to let the locals decide for themselves: hard to tell whether this is factual or fictional.) Lawrence defends Feisal’s claim by citing previous British offerings to Feisal’s father in a “secret letter” and their mutual triumphant march into Damascus against the Turks. Feisal's main demand is for Syria for himself and the Arabs, made harder by France, and its previous public colonial agreements with Great Britain. Lawrence's newly-gained popularity after World War I poses further complication, as popular movie shows promote the white European "Uncrowned King of Arabia" instead of its actual ruler, Feisal. Personal egos are bruised and strain the wartime friendship between the two. As Euro-centric negotiations reach a peak, Lawrence is called away to his dying father’s bedside, though he arrives too late to see him alive, and leaves too soon to see him buried. As he says to Feisel after his return to Paris, “What more can I do for you?” Throughout the film, Lawrence works on what would later become his life's work, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. As is glimpsed in the original Lawrence of Arabia and many biographies, this interpretation of Lawrence intimates at his rejection of women—the wife of the French diplomat—and acceptance of men—the elevator repairman—as objects of love, either physical or emotional.

Ralph Fiennes plays Lawrence as hesitant in the public eye, smiling when forced to, knowing when to be hard in his negotiations, unbending really—and completely alien to the world of women.

Themes

• Racism: The film shows numerous scenes in which the European diplomats discriminate against the Arab envoy, going so far as to not even let them participate in the conference as an equitable partner. This culminates in one of the last scenes where an ANZAC officer (unnamed but meant to be General Harry Chauvel) states that he will not let "his victory" (the conquest of Damascus) be taken away by a band of "marauding tribesmen". The most overt statement of racism is at the end, after Lawrence has sent a letter promising independence to the Arabs to a British newspaper, where he is accused of having "betrayed his country and his race for heathen aliens."

• Politics: Just as it was hinted at in the end of David Lean's film, the European politicians would not do justice to the promises Lawrence made to Feisal during the Arab campaign. France emphasised her interests in Syria and thus denied the Arabs one of the lands they had conquered from the native populations, in this case the Assyrians. Towards the end of the film, while watching a workman handling petroleum, Lawrence even makes the very contemporary statement that "it's all about oil".

• Homosexuality: T.E. Lawrence's often alleged homosexuality is often hinted at, when, during their encounters, Feisal and Lawrence behave quite tenderly towards one another. In a pivotal moment, when Lawrence tries to organize a last-ditch effort to save Feisal's claims, Mme. Dumont, a French envoy's wife, tries to seduce him. Although this could possibly be his last hope, he states under a mixture of tortured laughter and tears that he is "not capable of this task". While this scene may also be interpreted as Lawrence's steadfast moral stance, in the scene immediately following, Lawrence is reported as being once mistaken for a pleasure-boy during his time in Arabia by Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen (Jim Carter), another member of the Hejaz delegation. His sexual orientation is then further scenarised by him taking a bath in the officer's bath tub.

• Homages: Although it clearly does not possess the visual grandeur of its predecessor, it makes a few attempts at reviving images from David Lean's movie. In a parallel to Lawrence's death by a road accident, he is shown driving a "borrowed" bike along a road only narrowly dodging two horse-riders. After Lawrence takes a bath, we see his face fading beyond the vapour on the mirror, similar to Peter O'Toole's last scenes in the original, where he is shown as a mirror image, behind a curtain and a car's windscreen.

References

External links

• A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia at the Internet Movie Database
• Site dedicated to one of Britain’s Greatest Heroes