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58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Unqualified Recommendation, June 2, 2003
If all we had of T.E. Lawrence were David Lean's epic "Lawrence of Arabia," we'd have fodder for generations of romantics, but despite its sumptuousness it relies heavily on the previous mythmaking of Lowell Thomas, and Lawrence's own dissembling in "Seven Pillars of Wisdom." "A Dangerous Man," offers a corrective without destroying the myth, by giving us a deeper portrait of Lawrence, and a more factual take on his desert adventures.World War One found its raison d'etre only after the war was declared. The assassination of a Serbian Archduke was the catalyst, but the war itself became a grab for resources, and in the mid-east, a continuation of the Great Game the superpowers had been playing for years. Rather than restricting the game to Afghanistan though, the entire region opened up for a land-grab of huge proportions, and the ill-fated peace conference in Versailles became the ultimate playing field. Lloyd George and Clemenceau represented "old Europe's" wheeling, dealing, and chicanery; while Woodrow Wilson represented the somewhat bumbling, idealistic, and ridiculed ideals of American self-determination as an unrealistic alternative to a world steeped in colonization. Lawrence and his Prince Feisal were the wild cards, and they played their cards like world-class sharks. "A Dangerous Man," is a top-notch movie, intelligently written, flawlessly directed, and superbly acted. It's one of the few celluloid histories that find fact more interesting than fiction, and it also serves as an interesting primer to recent events. My recommendation is unqualified; this is a movie worth seeing and talking about.
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DVD ~ Ralph Fiennes
DVD ~ John Dimech
DVD ~ Michael Maloney
DVD ~ Ralph Fiennes
by T.E. Lawrence
