Sparks Commentary: A review of PBS’s “Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World”

The Arab Revolt against the rule of the Ottoman Turks …

When people hear the phrase “World War One,” they usually think of Europe. But it was also fought in the Middle East, by people like “Lawrence of Arabia.” During the war, the Arabs revolted against the rule of the Ottoman Turks. They had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire for centuries, and they didn’t like it. Thus, the British were able to convince them to revolt near the beginning of World War One. They sent a man named T. E. Lawrence to promise both British support and Arab independence. He is now known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” and he would later be famous for his role in the Arab Revolt. But he would also feel some guilt over how the revolt later turned out.

T. E. Lawrence, the man now known as “Lawrence of Arabia”

Lawrence was already familiar with the Middle East before the war even started …

By the time the war began, he was already quite familiar with the Middle East. He had spent some time there before the war even started. Thus, he gained some fluency in the Arabic language. He had been interested in the Crusades during his years in college, and thus wanted to visit the Middle East – where many of these Crusades had taken place. Thus, his prewar years had included some archeological digs in the Middle East. This helped him gain familiarity with parts of the region. The documentary covers all of this, and even shows how he fell in love with Arabic culture. Nonetheless, he still loved his native country, and wanted to serve it when the war broke out. He initially believed that he could help both the British and the Arabs by helping to orchestrate an alliance between them. He promised the Arabs many things – and at this time, he may have had reason to believe that they would indeed be fulfilled. (Many of them weren’t – but I’m getting ahead of myself here.)

Early Hittite artifact found by T. E. Lawrence and Leonard Woolley (right) in Carchemish

The re-enactments in this documentary are necessary, and are surprisingly good

A fair amount of this documentary covers the war itself. They use re-enactments to dramatize a number of the battles. This was surprising for me, given that World War One was well into the photography era. But much of the Arab Revolt was never filmed, and guerrilla actions are especially unlikely to be filmed. Thus, these re-enactments were probably needed here. Their re-enactments seem to be somewhat better than those of most documentaries. Unlike many documentaries, they had the budget to do some dramatizations, and made the most of this budget. Nonetheless, they do use some photographs and real footage where it’s available.

Lawrence at Rabigh, north of Jeddah, 1917

Lawrence’s role in deceiving the Arabs about British plans for the Middle East

The British military support came on schedule, but the Arab independence never did. As early as 1916, the British and the French were planning to divide the region between them. In 1917, the British would make the “Balfour Declaration,” which announced a “national home for the Jewish people.” This would later lead to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Plans for Arab control of the region were already being undermined. It is not clear exactly when Lawrence found out about these things, but we do know that it was sometime during the war. He never told the Arabs about what he knew at this time. Thus, he later felt some guilt over his role in deceiving them (as he mentions in his memoirs). Keeping them in the loop about all of this might have undermined their will to fight. Thus, he kept them in the dark instead. When the Arabs later found out about this, Lawrence asked to be sent home to Britain. This request was granted. He soon regretted his decision to leave, but later campaigned against the European plans to divide up the Middle East between them. This may have been to ease his conscience about his role in deceiving the Arabs.

Lawrence on a camel at Aqaba, 1917

Lawrence’s unsuccessful attempts to convince the British to keep their promises

When the Allies sat down to negotiate the postwar peace treaty, they already had an agenda for the Middle East. But Lawrence convinced them to hear out his friend Prince Faisal. Faisal was thus able to make his case to them for an independent Arab state. The European Allies patiently listened, but they did not grant his requests at this time. Instead, they divided up the Middle East in the controversial “Treaty of Versailles.” Because of this, Lawrence would later campaign against the Treaty of Versailles. His efforts led to some small victories for the Arab peoples at this time. He thus convinced himself that the British were now honoring these promises that they had made – and, more specifically, which he had made for them. This was not quite true, but it probably helped to ease Lawrence’s guilt over his role in these promises. Self-delusion often serves something of a psychological purpose, and Lawrence seems to have had some capacity for it.

Emir Faisal’s party at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Debates over whether Lawrence was gay, and whether he was indeed abused by the Turks

This documentary gives some excellent coverage of all of these events. But they also mention some other details about Lawrence’s life. For example, they mention how two of Lawrence’s brothers were killed in World War One, during the fighting in Europe. They also mention the debate about whether Lawrence was homosexual, and whether he was sexually abused by the Ottoman Turks. There is not much evidence to support Lawrence’s story about being abused by male Turkish captors, but the debate is more open about whether Lawrence was gay. This documentary concludes that Lawrence was probably a homosexual, and that he had a relationship with an Arab man while he was in the Middle East. This may be true, but the jury’s still out about this one. However, Lawrence may have been a masochist. The documentary seems to conclude that this is what he was.

Lawrence in Arab clothing, 1919

Interviews with British and American historians, as well as Arab historians

Nonetheless, this film is not just a biography, but a discussion of the Arab Revolt. They interview British and American historians, as well as Arab historians. Some of these Arab historians wear Western-style business suits, while others wear traditional Arab clothing. Incidentally, Lawrence himself wore Arab clothing during parts of the war itself. I might also note their interesting choice for the film’s narrator, which is Nadim Sawalha. He is a British actor of Jordanian descent. I suppose that PBS wanted viewers to notice his Arabic accent, and the political message that having an Arabic-accented narrator would send in this context. At times, I found his accent somewhat difficult to understand, but I still found him to be a good narrator despite this.

Conclusion: This is a great introduction to an interesting life, and a much broader story

They also have a soft-spoken actor with a British accent as the voice of T. E. Lawrence. This actor reminds one of Peter O’Toole in the 1962 movie “Lawrence of Arabia.” This movie has often influenced how Lawrence has been seen, but it is not really one of my favorite movies. In some ways, I actually like this documentary better, because it is more informative. The Peter O’Toole movie is a work of cinematic literature. This documentary is more of a history. I’m sure that one could get deeper coverage from a book, but this documentary is a great introduction to his rather eventful life. In two hours, it manages to shed some light on these complicated events in the Middle East. It will never beat the Peter O’Toole movie in music and cinematography, but it may have better information. Thus, it belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in World War One. It also belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in either Arab history, Muslim history, or the Middle East more generally.

DVD at Amazon

Related Hollywood movies:

“Lawrence of Arabia” (1962 movie)

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British military history