He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew.
Did you know him well?
I knew him.
Well, nil nisi bonum.
But did he really deserve...
...a place in here?
Lord Allenby, could you give a few words about Lawrence?
What, more words?
The revolt in the desert...
...played a decisive part in the Middle Eastern campaign.
Yes, sir, but about Colonel Lawrence himself.
No, no. I didn't know him well, you know.
Mr. Bentley, you know as much about Lawrence as anybody.
Yes, it was my privilege to know him.
And to make him known to the world.
He was a poet, a scholar and a mighty warrior.
Thank you.
He was also the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum and Bailey.
You, sir. Who are you?
My name is Jackson Bentley.
I overheard your last remark and take the gravest exception.
-He was a great man. -Did you know him?
No, I can't claim to have known him.
I had the honour to shake his hand in Damascus.
Knew him? I never knew him.
He had some minor function on my staff in Cairo.
Michael George Hartley...
...this is a nasty, dark little room.
That's right.
We are not happy in it.
I am. It's better than a nasty, dark little trench.
-Then you're a big noble fellow. -That's right.
Here is William Potter with my newspaper.
-Here you are, Tosh. -Thanks.
Would you care for one of Corporal Hartley's cigarettes?
-Is it there? -Of course.
Headlines.
But I bet it isn't mentioned in the Times.
" Bedouin tribes attack Turkish stronghold."
I bet that no one in this headquarters even knows it happened.
Or would care if it did. Allow me to ignite your cigarette.
-Mr. Lawrence? -Yes.
-Flimsy, sir. -Thank you.
You'll do that once too often. It's only flesh and blood.
Michael George Hartley, you're a philosopher.
And you're balmy!
-It damn well hurts! -Certainly, it hurts.
What's the trick, then?
The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.
By the way, if Captain Gibbon should enquire for me...
...tell him I've gone for a chat with the general.
-He's balmy. -He's all right.
Lawrence.
Yes?
You're supposed to be....
Do you usually wear your cap in the mess?
Always.
You should be on duty. Where are you going?
Mustn't talk shop, Freddie, not in the mess.
I'm going for a powwow with the general.
I'm not asking as your superior, but as the secretary of this mess.
We don't want chaps in here who should be on duty.
Where are you going?
I must say, Lawrence!
-Sorry. -You're a clown, Lawrence.
Ah, well, we can't all be lion tamers.
Sorry.
It's an intrigue, Dryden.
I do not propose to let an overweening, crass lieutenant...
...thumb his nose at his commander and get away with it.
It doesn't sound as though he'd be any great loss.
Don't try that, Dryden. There's a principle involved.
There is, indeed.
He's of no use here in Cairo.
He might be in Arabia. He knows his stuff, sir.
Knows the books, you mean.
I've already sent out Colonel Brighton, who's a soldier.
If Brighton thinks we should send some arms, we will.
Well, what more do you want?
That there would be no question of Lieutenant Lawrence...
...giving military advice.
By God, I should hope not.
It's just that the Arab Bureau would like its own man on the spot to....
To what?
To make our own appraisal of the situation.
I'll tell you, it's my considered opinion and that of my staff...
...that time spent on the Bedouin will be time wasted.
They're a nation of sheep-stealers.
They did attack Medina.
And the Turks made mincemeat of them.
We don't know that.
We know that they didn't take it. A storm in a teacup, a sideshow.
In my opinion, this whole theatre of operations is a sideshow.
The real war's being fought against Germans, not Turks.
Not here, but on the Western front in the trenches.
Your Bedouin Army, or whatever it calls itself...
...would be a sideshow of a sideshow.
Big things have small beginnings, sir.
Does the Arab Bureau want a big thing in Arabia?
Does the bureau think they'll sit down under us when this war is over?
The bureau thinks the job of the moment, sir, is to win the war.
Don't tell me my duty, Mr. Dryden.
-Lawrence, sir. -Send him in.
Good morning, sir.
Salute.
If you're insubordinate, I shall put you under arrest.
-It's my manner. -Your what?
My manner. It looks insubordinate, but it isn't.
I can't make out whether you're bad-mannered or just half-witted.
-I have the same problem, sir. -Shut up.
The Arab Bureau thinks you would be of use to them in Arabia.
Why, I can't imagine.
You can't perform your present duties properly.
" I cannot fiddle, but I can make a great state from a little city."
-What? -Themistocles, sir.
-A Greek philosopher. -I know you've been well-educated.
It says so in your dossier.
You're the kind of creature I can't stand, Lawrence.
But I suppose I could be wrong.
All right, Dryden. You can have him for six weeks.
Who knows? It might even make a man of him. Come in!
Yes, what is it?
The convoy will be in Port Said tomorrow night.
-Is that certain? -Yes, sir.
There doesn't seem to be any artillery.
But there must be artillery!
Sir, this is something of an expedition.
He has to get to Yenbo, find a guide, find the Arabs and then get back.
He can't do that in six weeks.
-Two months, then. -Three.
All right, three. Now, will you let me do some work, Mr. Dryden?
Thank you, sir.
I'd like to say, sir, that I am gratef ul for this.
Shut up and get out.
Sir?
How can I fight a bloody war without bloody artillery?
-How did you do it? -Might better ask why I bothered to.
-Because I'm the man for the job. -I just wonder about that.
Of course I am. What is the job, by the way?
Find Prince Feisal.
Good. And when I've found him?
Find out what kind of a man he is.
Find out what his intentions are. Not his immediate intentions.
That is Colonel Brighton's business, not yours.
I mean, his intentions in Arabia altogether.
That's new.
Where are they now?
Anywhere within 300 miles of Medina.
They're Hashemite Bedouins.
They can cross 60 miles of desert in a day.
Thanks. This is going to be fun.
Lawrence, only two kinds of creature get fun in the desert:
Bedouins and gods, and you're neither. Take it from me.
For ordinary men, it's a burning fiery furnace.
No, Dryden. It's going to be fun.
It is recognized that you have a funny sense of fun.
Here you may drink.
One cup.
You do not drink?
No.
I'll drink when you do.
I am Bedu.
Truly, now, you are a British officer?
Yes.
From Cairo?
Yes.
-You did not ride from Cairo? -No.
Thank heaven. It's 900 miles. I came by boat.
And before?
From Britain?
Yes.
Truly?
From Oxfordshire.
Is that a desert country?
No. A fat country. Fat people.
You are not fat?
No.
I'm different.
Here...
...take it.
First I take you to Lord Feisal, then you give it to me.
Take it now.
Bedu food.
Good.
More?
-Bedu. -Where?
From here to Lord Feisal's camp is Harith country.
Yes, I know.
-I am not Harith. -No.
Hazimi, of the Beni Salem.
Put the right foot in tight. Lock it with your left foot.
When you are ready to go...
...hit her on the shoulder and say, " Hut-hut-hut."
Today will be difficult, but tomorrow, good riding.
I think we reach Masturah Well tomorrow. Yes.
And from Masturah Well to Lord Feisal's camp, one day more.
Now!
Good?
It's all right.
This is a Harith well.
The Harith are a dirty people.
Turks?
Bedu.
Who is he?
He is dead.
Yes.
Why?
This my well.
I have drunk from it.
You are welcome.
He was my friend.
-That? -Yes, that.
-This pistol yours? -No, his.
His?
Mine.
Then I will use it.
Your friend...
...was a Hazimi of the Beni Salem.
I know.
I am Ali ibn el Kharish.
I have heard of you.
So...
...what was a Hazimi doing here?
He was taking me to help Prince Feisal.
-You've been sent from Cairo. -Yes.
I have been in Cairo for my schooling.
I can both read and write.
My Lord Feisal already has an Englishman.
What is your name?
My name is for my friends.
None of my friends is a murderer.
You are angry, English.
He was nothing.
The well is everything.
The Hazimi may not drink at our wells.
He knew that.
Salaam.
Sherif Ali.
So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe...
...so long will they be a little people...
...a silly people.
Greedy, barbarous and cruel, as you are.
Come.
I will take you to Feisal.
I do not want your company, sherif.
Wadi Saf ra is another day from here.
You will not find it, and you will die.
I will find it with this.
Good army compass.
How if I take it?
Then you would be a thief.
Have you no fear, English?
My fear is my concern.
Truly.
God be with you, English.
As I walk along the Bois de Boulogne With an independent air
You can hear the girls declare
He must be a millionaire
I'm the man who broke the bank At Monte Carlo
Hey, you!
-I've been waiting for you. -Did you know I was coming?
I knew someone was coming. Feisal told me.
How did he know?
Not much happens within 50 miles of Feisal that he doesn't know.
I'll give him that. No escort?
My guide was killed at the Masturah Well.
-Turks? -No, an Arab.
Bloody savages.
-This is Wadi Saf ra, isn't it? -Yes, they're over there.
Just a minute. What's your name and who sent you?
Lawrence. I've been seconded to the Arab Bureau.
What are you to do for the Arab Bureau?
Well, it's rather vague, sir. I'm to appreciate the situation.
Well, that won't be difficult. The situation's bloody awf ul.
Their morale, if they ever had any, which I doubt...
...the Turks knocked out of them in front of Medina, with howitzers.
They're fading away by dozens every night.
What I want to say is this:
Wherever you are and whoever you are with...
...you're a British officer. Here's an order.
When we get into that camp, you're to keep your mouth shut.
-Do you understand what I'm saying? -I understand what you're saying.
You'll make your appreciation and get back to--
Oh, my God.
Not again.
I've told him! God knows I've told him.
" Move South, " I've said. "You're still in range."
They simply will not understand what modern weapons do!
Stand and fight. Stand and fight.
Fire back at them.
-Who are you? -Lieutenant Lawrence, sir.
Seconded to the Arab Bureau.
This is a bloody mess, sir. We'll have to move south.
Yes, colonel, 50 miles south.
You were right and I was wrong.
We must take some thought for the wounded.
-We can take care of them at Yenbo. -lf they can get to Yenbo.
They can hardly come with us.
No. They must try to reach Yenbo. Lieutenant...?
Lawrence.
You understand, Lieutenant Lawrence...
...my people are unused to explosives and machines.
First the guns, and now this.
Cigarette?
I'm sorry.
Cigarette, Your Excellency?
Umph off.
Please, Your Excellency. Just one for two?
Hold it, Jenkins!
Jenkins!
Lawrence?
You have no servant.
-I don't need a servant. -No?
We can do everything. Light fires, cook food, wash clothes.
-Yes, everything. -I don't doubt it.
-It will be very nice for you. -I can't afford it.
Recite, then, as much of the Koran as may be easy to you.
God knoweth that there be some among you sick...
...while others travel through the Earth in quest for the bounties of God.
Others do battle in His cause.
Recite, therefore, as much as may be easy.
And observe the prayers.
This will be best and richest in the recompense.
Seek ye the forgiveness of God.
Verily, God is forgiving, mercif ul--
Greetings, Ali.
-My lord. -Sherif Ali.
Lieutenant Lawrence, you have met Sherif Ali, I think.
Yes, my lord.
And now, Selim, "The Brightness."
" By the noonday brightness...
...and by the night when it darkeneth...
...thy Lord hath not forsaken thee...
...neither hath He been displeased.
And surely the future shall be better for thee than the past."
"And in the end shall your Lord be bounteous to thee...
...and thou be satisfied."
So?
Yes, colonel.
-I want a decision, sir. -You want me to fall back on Yenbo.
Well, you're not doing much good here, sir.
I'm sorry to rub it in, sir, but we can't supply you here.
You could supply us through Aqaba!
Aqaba!
If you can get ahold of Aqaba, we can supply you.
-But you can't! -You could.
You mean, the navy?
The Turks have 12-inch guns at Aqaba, sir.
Can you imagine what that means?
Yes, I can imagine.
Put that out of your mind, sir. The navy's got other things to do.
Oh, yes. Protecting the Suez Canal.
The one essential sector of this front is and must be the canal.
You can see that, sir, surely.
I see that the canal is an essential British interest.
It is of little consequence to us.
I must ask you not to speak like that.
British and Arab interests are one and the same.
Possibly.
Upon my word, sir, you're ungratef ul.
Fall back on Yenbo and we will give you equipment.
Give you arms, advice, training, everything.
-Guns? -A modern rifle for every man.
No. Guns. Artillery.
Guns like the Turkish guns at Medina.
Yes, give us guns and keep the training.
Your men need training far more than guns, sir.
English will teach Bedu to fight?
We will teach them, Sherif Ali, to fight a modern mechanized army.
Yes, lieutenant? What do you think about Yenbo?
I think it is far from Damascus.
We'll have you in Damascus, sir. Never fear.
Have you been in Damascus, Mr. Lawrence?
Yes, my lord.
It is beautif ul, is it not?
-Very. -That will do, Lawrence.
Dreaming won't get you to Damascus, but discipline will.
Look, Great Britain is a small country, much smaller than yours.
Small population compared with some.
It's small, but it's great. And why?
-Because it has guns. -Because it has discipline.
Because it has a navy, because of this, the English go where they please...
...and strike where they please. This makes them great.
-Right. -Mr. Lawrence, that will do!
Lawrence is not your military adviser.
But I would like to hear his opinion.
Damn it! Who do you take your orders from?
From Lord Feisal, in Feisal's tent.
Old fool! Why turn from him to him? They are master and man.
My lord, I think....
I think your book is right.
The desert is an ocean in which no oar is dipped.
On this ocean, the Bedu go where they please and strike where they please.
This is the way the Bedu has always fought.
You're famed through the world for fighting this way.
And this is the way you should fight now.
I don't know.
I'm sorry, sir, but you're wrong.
Fall back on Yenbo, the Arab Rising becomes one unit in the British army.
-What is this to you? -You're a traitor.
No, colonel.
He is a young man, and young men are passionate.
They must say their say.
But wiser people must decide. I know you are right.
Very well. When shall we move? The sooner the better.
You'll lose another 50 men tonight.
You tread heavily...
...but you speak the truth.
I will give you my answer tomorrow. And now...
...it is late.
Colonel Brighton means to put my men under European officers, does he not?
In effect, my lord, yes.
And I must do it...
...because the Turks have European guns.
But I fear to do it...
...upon my soul I do.
The English have a great hunger for desolate places.
I fear they hunger for Arabia.
Then you must deny it to them.
You are an Englishman. Are you not Ioyal to England?
To England and to other things.
To England and Arabia both?
And is that possible?
I think you are another of these desert-Ioving English.
Doughty, Stanhope...
...Gordon of Khartoum.
No Arab loves the desert.
We love water and green trees. There is nothing in the desert.
And no man needs nothing.
Or is it that you think we are something you can play with...
...because we are a little people, a silly people...
...greedy, barbarous and cruel?
Or do you know, lieutenant, in the Arab city of Cordoba...
...were two miles of lighting in the streets...
...when London was a village.
Yes, you were great.
Nine centuries ago.
Time to be great again, my lord.
Which is why my father made this war upon the Turks.
My father, Mr. Lawrence, not the English.
But my father is old...
...and I...
...I long for the vanished gardens of Cordoba.
However, before the gardens must come the fighting.
To be great again, it seems that we need the English...
...or....
Or?
What no man can provide, Mr. Lawrence.
We need a miracle.
Aqaba.
From the land.
You are mad.
To come to Aqaba by land we should have to cross the Nef ud Desert.
That's right.
The Nef ud cannot be crossed.
I'll cross it if you will.
You? It takes more than a compass, Englishman.
The Nef ud is the worst place God created.
I can't answer for the place. Only for myself.
Fifty men?
Fifty? Against Aqaba?
If 50 men came out of the Nef ud...
...they would be 50 men other men might join.
The Howeitat are there, I hear.
The Howeitat are brigands. They'll sell themselves to anyone.
-Good fighters, though. -Good--
Yes. There are guns at Aqaba.
They face the sea, Sherif Ali, and cannot be turned around.
From the landward side, there are no guns at Aqaba.
With good reason. It cannot be approached from the landward side.
Certainly the Turks don't dream of it.
Aqaba's over there.
It's only a matter of going.
You are mad.
And where are you going, lieutenant?
With 50 of my men.
To work your miracle.
Blasphemy is a bad beginning for such a journey.
-Who told you? -Ali did.
Why not you?
You are falling back from Yenbo, sir?
Yes, I must.
But I will spare these to you.
Did Ali break confidence to tell me?
Sherif Ali owes you his allegiance, my lord.
Yet you did not tell Colonel Brighton.
No.
Since you do know...
...we can claim to arrive in the name of Feisal of Mecca.
Yes, Lieutenant Lawrence, you may claim it.
But in whose name do you ride?
Sherif, I caught them. They have tracked us.
They were here. I caught them.
Why are you here? Boy!
To serve Lord Lawrence, sherif.
This is true, Lawrence. They do wish it.
You have been tracking us.
-You were told to stay. -No, sherif.
Our camel strayed. We followed her.
She led us here to be Lord Lawrence's servants.
-It is the will of Allah. -Blasphemy.
Don't do that.
No, Lawrence, these are not servants. These are outcasts, parent-less.
Be warned. They are not suitable.
They sound very suitable. You can ride with the baggage.
These are not servants. These are worshippers.
One shilling, every week?
That is fair.
-Each? -No.
-That is too much. -All right.
They will be lucky for you. Allah favours the compassionate.
There is the railway.
And that is the desert.
From here until the other side, no water but what we carry.
For the camels, no water at all.
If the camels die...
...we die.
And in 20 days they will start to die.
There's no time to waste, then, is there?
I was thinking.
You were drifting.
Yes. It will not happen again.
Be warned, you were drifting.
It will not happen again.
That water is wasted.
From now on, we must travel by night...
...and rest while it is too hot to travel.
A few hours each day.
Why don't we start now?
No. We will rest now.
Three hours.
Fine.
I'll wake you.
Do we rest here?
There is no rest now short of water.
The other side of that.
And how much of that is there?
I'm not sure.
But however much, it must be crossed before tomorrow's sun gets up.
This is the sun's anvil.
Have we done it?
No, but we're off the anvil.
Thank God for that anyway.
Yes, thank Him.
Lawrence, I do not think you know how you have tempted Him.
I know.
We've done it.
God willing.
When do we reach the wells?
God willing, midday.
-Then we've done it. -Thank Him, Lawrence. Thank Him.
Gasim's.
What's happened to him?
God knows.
Why don't you stop?
For what? He will be dead by midday.
We must go back.
What for, to die with Gasim?
In one hour comes the sun.
In God's name, understand! We cannot go back!
I can.
Take the boys.
If you go back, you kill yourself, is all.
Gasim you have killed already.
Get out of my way.
Gasim's time is come, Lawrence. It is written.
Nothing is written!
Go back, then!
What did you bring us here for with your blasphemous conceit?
English blasphemer!
Aqaba?
Was it Aqaba?
You will not be at Aqaba, English!
Go back, blasphemer...
...but you will not be at Aqaba.
I shall be at Aqaba.
That is written.
In here.
English!
Lawrence! Daud!
Nothing is written.
Al Lawrence.
Farraj.
Wash.
Al Lawrence.
Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it.
Not Al Lawrence. Just Lawrence.
-AI Lawrence is better. -True.
Your father too, just Mr. Lawrence?
My father is Sir Thomas Chapman.
-Is that a lord? -A kind of lord.
Then when he dies, you too will be a lord.
No.
You have an elder brother.
But then, I do not understand this. Your father's name is Chapman.
He didn't marry my mother.
I see.
I'm sorry.
It seems to me that you are free to choose your own name, then.
Yes, I suppose I am.
Al Lawrence is best.
All right, I'll settle for Al Lawrence.
They are the robes of a sherif of the Beni Wejh.
Very fine.
-Great honour. -The honour is to us. Salaam, sherif.
-Is it permitted? -Surely.
He for whom nothing is written may write himself a clan.
They are good for riding. Try.
What are you doing, Englishman?
As you see.
Are you alone?
Almost.
Are you with those dogs drinking at my well?
Yours?
I am Auda Abu Tayi.
I've heard of another man of that name.
Other? What other?
The Auda I'd heard of wouldn't need to summon help to look after his wells.
He must be a great hero.
He is.
He wouldn't ref use water to men coming out of Nef ud Desert.
Now, would he not?
No, that must be some other man.
Here is my help.
Son, what fashion is this?
-Harith, Father. -What manner of Harith?
A Beni Wejh sherif.
And is he Harith?
No, Father, English.
Son...
...they are stealing our water.
Tell them we are coming.
Tell them.
-Empty that! -Do not!
It is Auda of the Howeitat who speaks.
It is Ali of the Harith who answers.
Harith.
Ali.
Does your father still steal?
No.
Does Auda take me for one of his own bastards?
No. There is no resemblance.
Alas, you resemble your father.
-Auda flatters me. -You are easily flattered.
I knew your father well.
Did you know your own?
We are 50, you are two. How if we shot you down?
Why, then you have a blood feud with the Howeitat.
-Do you desire it? -Not the generals in Cairo...
...nor the sultan himself desire that.
Call off your men.
This honours the unworthy.
I've only just begun to teach him.
And what are you teaching him today? Howeitat hospitality?
Be not clever with me, English.
-Who is he? -A friend of Prince Feisal's.
-So you desire my hospitality? -Yes.
Is he your tongue?
We do desire it.
Then it is given, if you will take it.
I'm at my summer camp, a poor place.
Well, to me it seems a poor place. Some men find it marvellous.
Tomorrow, maybe I will allow the Turks to buy you, friends of Feisal.
But...
...dine with me.
Dine with Auda, English.
Dine with the Howeitat, Harith.
It is my pleasure that you dine with me in Wadi Rumm!
This thing you work against Aqaba...
...what profit do you hope from it?
We work it for Feisal of Mecca.
The Harith do not work for profit.
Well, if it is in a man to be a servant, Sherif Ali...
...he could find worse masters than Feisal.
But I.... I cannot serve.
You permit the Turks to stay in Aqaba.
Yes, it is my pleasure.
We do not work this thing for Feisal.
No?
-For the English, then? -For the Arabs.
The Arabs?
The Howeitat, Ageyil, Ruala, Beni Sahkr, these I know.
I have even heard of the Harith.
But the Arabs?
What tribe is that?
They're a tribe of slaves. They serve the Turks.
Well, they are nothing to me.
My tribe is the Howeitat.
Who work only for profit.
Who work at Auda's pleasure.
And Auda's pleasure is to serve the Turks.
Serve?
I serve?
It is the servant who takes money.
I am Auda Abu Tayi.
-Does Auda serve? -No!
-Does Auda Abu Tayi serve? -No!
I carry 23 great wounds, all got in battle.
75 men have I killed with my own hands, in battle.
I scatter, I burn my enemies tents. I take away their flocks and herds.
The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor!
Because I am a river to my people.
Is that service?
No.
And yet now it seems Auda has grown old.
And lost his taste for fighting.
It is well you say it in my tent, thou old tulip.
Yet this is a tulip that the Turks could not buy.
Why should they wish to?
Now....
I will tell you what they pay me, and you will tell me if this is...
...a servant's wages.
They pay me, month by month...
...100 golden guineas.
150, Auda.
-Who told you that? -I have long ears.
And a long tongue between them.
100, 150, what matters? It's a trifle.
A trifle which they take f rom a great box they have.
In Aqaba.
-In Aqaba? -Where else?
You trouble me like women.
Friends, we've been foolish. Auda won't come to Aqaba.
-For money? -No.
-For Feisal? -No!
Nor to drive away the Turks.
He will come...
...because it is his pleasure.
Thy mother mated with a scorpion.
Make God your agent!
Aqaba!
God be with you.
Yes.
Aqaba.
Tomorrow we will go and get it.
-Do you think we shall? -Yes.
If you are right about the guns.
He killed. He dies.
This is the end of Aqaba.
-One of our men murdered Auda's man. -Why?
Theft? Blood feud? It makes no matter why.
Ali!
It is an ancient wound.
I didn't come here to watch a tribal bloodbath.
It is the law, Lawrence.
The law says the man must die.
If he dies, will that content the Howeitat?
Yes.
Sherif Ali!
If none of Lord Auda's men harms any of yours...
-...will that content the Harith? -Yes.
Then I will execute the law.
I have no tribe.
And no one is offended.
Gasim.
Did you do it?
Well, Lawrence....
What ails the Englishman?
That that he killed was the man he brought out of the Nef ud.
It was written, then.
Better to have left him.
It was execution, Lawrence. No shame in that.
Besides, it was necessary.
You gave life and you took it.
The writing is still yours.
Auda Abu Tayi!
The miracle is accomplished.
Garlands for the conqueror.