David Lean’s
1962 film Lawrence of Arabia was both visually engaging and emotionally
compelling as it told the story of T. E. Lawrence, the young British military
officer who played a pivotal role in the Middle East during World War I. In the book Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of theModern Middle East, author Scott Anderson both
demythologizes Lawrence and attempts to place his actions within the larger
context of history.
In order to do this, Anderson weaves Lawrence’s story
with those of three spies from the era--German Curt Prüfer, American – and
Standard Oil employee – William Yale, and Zionist Aaron Aaronsohn. Each sought not only to further the goals of
their countries but their own ambitions as well. The result is complex, interesting, and
informative, and helps us to understand how we ended up with the Middle Eastern
quagmire of today.
In many ways, this wartime period was a much simpler time
when men in their twenties rose rapidly to places of immense influence and
power. There was an almost naïve simplicity
that extolled manly virtues and heroic deeds that seem a bit ridiculous in light
of the warfare of today. Even the spycraft seems simplistic and unpretentious
in light of modern methodologies.
All of this is played out against a background of trench
warfare and frontal assaults that claimed millions of lives on both sides. We are repelled by the tragic indifference to
human life. On the other hand, there is
something a bit ridiculous about the major colonial powers of Europe dividing
up their spoils of war in the Middle East with little understanding of the
powerful forces at work there.
All of the men portrayed were heroic in their own way,
but each ended up as a tragic failure. Lawrence
himself carried an immense emotional burden for what he had done for King and
country. He refused a knighthood and
changed his identity more than once to escape his public notoriety and died at
the age of 46 as the result of a traffic accident.
Lawrence in Arabia is history as tragedy. One comes away with a certain feeling of loss
for what might have been.
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