LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 213
roles: an odd feature that Molly Haskell aptly characterizes as “covert misogyny”
(Haskell, 2016, p. 330).
Reel History Versus Real History
A boldly revisionist cinematic portrait of T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia fea-
tures some au then tic content but is rife with glaring historical inaccuracies. The
website T. E. Lawrence Studies provides an exhaustive cata log of the film’s myriad
misrepresentations— too many to list here (www. telstudies. org / discussion / film tv
radio / lofa or sid _ 2. shtml). What follows is a discussion of some of the major
points of contention. Peter O’Toole resembled Lawrence but critics point out that
O’Toole was 6'2"— almost nine inches taller than the man he portrayed. More prob-
lematic is the movie’s portrayal of Lawrence as a publicity seeker who had, in the
words of Lowell Thomas, “a genius for backing into the limelight.” This is debat-
able insofar as Lawrence assumed vari ous aliases after the war to evade attention—
yet he also wrote and published Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, an enormously
ambitious memoir of his WWI ser vice, albeit privately circulated during Lawrence’s
lifetime. In the movie, O’Toole’s extreme handsomeness, slightly effeminate man-
ner, and total absence of a female love interest strongly suggest that Lawrence is
homosexual— a surmise also made by some Lawrence biographers but contradicted
by letters brought to light six years after the film came out, proving that Lawrence
was actually a masochist addicted to flagellation (cf. Bruce, 1968). Ironically, the
film portrays Lawrence as a sadist who took plea sure in shooting Gasim and slaugh-
tering Turks at the Tafas Massacre. As depicted in the film, Lawrence did rescue
the Arab boy, Gasim, but did not shoot him later (the movie conflates two unre-
lated incidents). Though other wise quite accurate, the film’s depiction of the Tafas
Massacre misrepresents Lawrence’s bloodlust as singularly personal. In Seven Pil-
lars of Wisdom Lawrence describes a collective frenzy for vengeance: “In a madness
born of the horror of Tafas we killed and killed, even blowing in the heads of the
fallen and of the animals; as though their death and running blood could slake
our agony.” Beyond a skewed psychological portrait of Lawrence, the film heavi ly
fictionalizes certain events, such as the attack on Aqaba. In real ity, the taking of
Aqaba was a well- planned joint land– sea operation, not a surprise initiative by Law-
rence. In the movie Lawrence is made aware of and appalled by the Sykes- Picot
Agreement in the late stages of the Arab Revolt. In real ity Lawrence knew about
Sykes- Picot— a secret treaty between Rus sia, France, and Britain that precluded
Arab self- determination by proposing a carving up of the Ottoman Empire after
its defeat— early on. His own hy poc risy in dealing with Faisal and the Arabs caused
him endless pangs of conscience. The culminating Arab Council scenes are also
wildly inaccurate. The council did not quickly dissolve into bickering and chaos;
it remained in power in Syria from 1 October 1918 until 24 July 1920, when France
deposed Faisal. When Michael Wilson’s script was replaced by Bolt’s character-
driven version, much background material on the history of the region, the First
World War, and the Arab Revolt was lost.