tagged w/ Lawrence of Arabia
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What the pro-Palestinian activist—whose death was just ruled an accident—shared with Lawrence of Arabia
Last week an Israeli court dismissed the civil lawsuit brought by Rachel Corrie’s parents, ruling that the March 2003 death of their daughter was accidental and that the state of Israel bears no responsibility for her death. Working as an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, the then-23-year-old college student from Washington state was killed when she stood in the path of an Israeli Defense Forces bulldozer to protest against Palestinian home demolitions. “She did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done,” said Israeli Judge Oded Gershon. “She consciously put herself in danger.”
The one question that has yet to be answered is: Why did she put herself in danger? What, exactly, was Rachel Corrie doing in Gaza?
Judging from Corrie’s letters, it is clear that she desired to help the persecuted. “Many people want their voices to be heard,” she wrote to her friends and family in February 2003 about the Palestinians she was meeting in Rafah, “and I think we need to use some of our privilege as internationals to get those voices heard.” But if Corrie sought to help the downtrodden, she might have gone to many different parts of the world; communities even here in the United States would have benefited from her talents and energies. Instead, she went to the Middle East.
In many precincts of the American and European left, it is a piece of conventional wisdom that the Arab-Israel conflict is one of the central moral dilemmas of the age. Even the bloody, intra-Arab strife coursing throughout the region hasn’t derailed the notion that the conflict in the Holy Land is the most significant conflict in the Mideast: It remains useful as a reflecting pool for a well-known variety of Western narcissism. From this perspective, solving the Palestine question is an important step in righting the sins of the West.
Groups like the International Solidarity Movement, then, act as a sort of tour agency for a particular kind of Western adventurer, searching for a level of raw political engagement and ideological commitment that simply doesn’t exist in the United States. The obvious advantage that Israel offers is that, compared to the rest of the Middle East, it is relatively safe. Corrie herself implicitly acknowledged this fact when she walked into the middle of a war zone to mount a protest. No sensible person could similarly assume the mercies of, say, the Syrian regime were he to walk into the middle of that war zone to complain of government atrocities.
Nonetheless, Corrie had indeed put herself in harm’s way—a wager that culminated with her losing her life.
One way to understand Corrie’s story is as part of a longstanding tradition of adventurous, generous, and sometimes vain Western travelers to the Middle East. Among these crusading spirits, the most famous example is perhaps T.E. Lawrence, who saw in the band of Arab tribesmen and former Ottoman officers he led against the Turks an opportunity to serve the underdog and tie himself to a larger cause. Along the way it appears that Lawrence, embracing local customs and dress, recognized that the Arab Revolt also offered him a staging ground for a kind of charismatic search for the authentic self that had the flavor of salvation.
Given the significance of religion in a part of the world that produced three major faiths, it is hardly surprising that the region would seem to offer itself as a place where communal political activism is a form of spiritual vocation. What this type of Western traveler seeks by going to the Middle East is a politics of personal transcendence—to become someone that they couldn’t in their staid, well-ordered societies.
Full Story: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/111130/why-rachel-corrie-went-to-gazaWhat the pro-Palestinian activist—whose death was just ruled an... more
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Steven Spielberg is Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean's most famous fan. But when they eventually worked together it wasn't all a bed of roses...Steven Spielberg is Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean's most famous fan. But... more
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Steven Spielberg’s favourite film is David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. When the film was first released in 1962 Spielberg went to see it at a small theatre in Phoenix, Arizona where he immediately fell in love with the epic tale of T.E. Lawrence. However, as the director explains, he wasn’t aware of the enormity of the film’s influence on him until much later.Steven Spielberg’s favourite film is David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. When... more
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The latest video essay from Matt Zoller Seitz tracks the use of food in film as we head into Thanksgiving:
In Big Night, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott's 1996 drama about two chef brothers cooking a one-of-a-kind dinner at their struggling Italian restaurant, there's a moment where the siblings unveil their prize dish, timpano, a mix of meat, cheese, pasta, tomato sauce, and hardboiled eggs served inside a drum-shaped crust. The unveiling begins with an overhead shot of the brothers carefully lifting the chafing dish to reveal the timpano; at the sight of that buttery crust, the audience collectively exhaled in pleasure and envy—a noise that was half sigh, half moan. We all wanted to be in that movie, in that restaurant, sitting at the brothers' table as honored guests, knife and fork at the ready. Dear Lord, that food looked good.
http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/feast-20091124The latest video essay from Matt Zoller Seitz tracks the use of food in film as we... more
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John Woo directed "Face/Off," "Mission: Impossible II," and "Windtalkers" and this weekend he releases his new film "Red Cliff." John was kind enough to share his Five Favorite Films.
The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a movie review show that airs on Thursday nights at 10:30 e/p on Current TV. From reviews of the newest releases to commentary on cult favorites and movie trends, each episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a fast-paced, comedic journey through the week in cinema.
For more from the Rotten Tomatoes Show: http://rottentomatoesshow.com
For more about movies from Current: http://current.com/moviesJohn Woo directed "Face/Off," "Mission: Impossible II," and... more
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Everyone knows what Lawrence of Arabia looks like. He looks like Peter O'Toole. Just as Cleopatra looks like Elizabeth Taylor, and the King of Siam looks like Yul Brynner.
Any actual resemblance there, of course, is strictly irrelevant. So when the producers of Amelia boast that their star looks so much like Amelia Earhart that they were able to use 1930s newsreel footage at one point rather than shooting a new scene, you think, "Well, cool, but ... so?" It's lucky casting, certainly. But since when are filmmakers sticklers for authenticity?
On TV's The Tudors, for instance, even this season's aging Henry VIII — we're well beyond the Anne Boleyn years now — isn't the fat, goitered, thin-lipped king we know from his mature portraits. He's the pouty, still-athletic Jonathan Rhys Meyers with a crew cut — easier on the eyes, presumably, as he's bedding those six wives.
Or consider Julia Child. In this summer's Julie and Julia, the hair was right, and 5-foot-6 star Meryl Streep was wearing platform heels to approximate the physical presence of the 6-foot-2 chef. But Streep didn't opt for fleshy prosthetics on cheek and chin. Instead, she nailed the bubbly, plummy voice.
Streep had an advantage: Director Nora Ephron didn't make her compete visually with a shot of the real Julia Child. But films about other famous figures have lately taken to actively bragging about how true to life they are. Audiences sat transfixed through the end credits of the movie Milk last year, as photos of the real people who had worked with gay activist Harvey Milk were matched with the actors who played them. It was as though the filmmakers had found virtual twins, some 30 years after the tragic events portrayed in the film.
A similar impulse seems to have driven the makers of a new soccer-rivalry movie, The Damned United. In this country, we don't know feuding coaches Brian Clough and Don Revie, but in Britain, they're downright legendary. And again, they've nearly been twinned.Everyone knows what Lawrence of Arabia looks like. He looks like Peter O'Toole.... more
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Composer Maurice Jarre, who won three Academy Awards for his film music, has died.
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Want to live out your Lawrence of Arabia fantasies but can only spare a couple of days off work? Tom Robbins travels to Oman for a weekend in the Empty Quarter - 250,000 square miles of nothing but dunes.Want to live out your Lawrence of Arabia fantasies but can only spare a couple of days... more
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