Impatience Gets the Best of Lawrence of Arabia

I'm in the middle of Lawrence of Arabia. I've waited to watch this film purely because of it's length. One doesn't have four hours to watch a film every day. Right now, I've found myself wondering which parts could be cut to make this easier to stomach. Surely, no film need be so long. IMDb says it's the 41st best film ever made and AFI says that it's the 7th (formerly the 5th, but I support the drop). For the most part, the movie's perfectly executed. Perfectly boring indeed. Lean had worked in theater prior to the film and it shows. The shots tend to be squared off like a staged production and he even spends five minutes at the beginning, middle and end, with just the score on black (the first fifteen minutes to go in my version).


More than anything I think my impatience with this film has to do with my training at Emerson (to get to the point and keep your audience captivated) and my age. My generation most certainly has no patience for epic scenery and subtle politics. Rather than assume that AFI and IMDb are wrong, I will blame my impatience (though not disregarding my opinion completely).

Maybe, just maybe, I'll grow to appreciate Lean, like I've grown to appreciate Bergman. In High School, I saw the Seventh Seal and I was bored to tears (like most any high schooler would be). Two days ago, I watched Wild Strawberries and enjoyed it immensely (though it is about half as long as Lawrence of Arabia--maybe I'm not maturing, just finding examples that suit my patience).