Professor David Peimer
Lawrence of Arabia, the Film: Colonial Rule and Playing Both Sides
Summary
Ranked the 7th greatest film ever made by the American Film Institute, “Lawrence of Arabia” depicts Lawrence’s divided allegiance between his homeland of Britain and his perception of Arabia. In this masterpiece directed by David Lean and written by Robert Bolt (“A Man for All Seasons,” “Doctor Zhivago”), Lawrence is pulled between conflicting identities. The film is romantic and politically astute, using superb visuals to portray Lawrence’s shifting understanding of violence and war against the vast canvas of British colonialism and the Ottoman Empire. In this lecture, David Peimer asks, is it also a story of the insider as an outsider, depending on how the winds of fantasy and reality blow?
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.
That’s a really interesting and important question, Maya. I think I’m going to need more time to respond. I don’t want to just give a glib quick answer and I don’t want to just duck out of the question either. But I think like most things, he would have a complex response because I do think he believed that the Jewish people would bring civilization, modernity as he called it, the leaven as he called it, to Arabia. And he saw that is crucial to his vision of Arabia and the development aside from who ruled. He saw that Jewish people would bring, yeah, to use Martin Gilbert’s phrase, modernity and Lawrence’s word, leaven to the Middle East. Which in his mind would’ve been essential.