Lawrence of Arabia Scene
Laurence of Arabia – Mirage/Well scene
What happens in the scene:
Laurence’s guide brings him to a well in the desert to drink. The men are trespassing, and soon a man on camel back arrives and shoots Lawrence’s guide for the offence. Lawrence, furious, criticizes the Arab people by saying that they will remain “a little people� as long as they fight among themselves. The man on camel back seems to respect Lawrence’s courage, and offers to lead him out of the desert, however, Lawrence refuses, and decides to find his own way to Prince Feisal’s camp.
Music:
One of the most striking features of this scene is its lack of music. Although the movie has a famous soundtrack, composed by Maurice Jarre, this particular scene is without music. The silence of the scene emphasizes the lonely landscape of the desert, and also creates anticipation about the approaching man on camel back. The isolation of the desert is felt acutely because of the overall silence of the scene, the only sounds, besides the dialogue, are camels and the sound of the bucket plunging into the deep well.
Film Techniques:
Once again, to portray the vastness of the desert, the film uses mostly a wide-angle lens. The landscape of the desert could arguably a main character in this story, and the lens definitely assists in portraying the desert as a major force in the lives of the human characters. Because of the constant reminder of the landscape, the viewer realizes that the characters must all be analyzed in context with the setting.
There are some interesting uses of the point-of-view shot in this scene. At the beginning, the shot is looking up from the bottom of the well into the sky. This shot, in relationship to the wide-angle lens technique, provides stark contrast, from the depth of the well, to the width of the never ending desert. In this case, the point-of-view shot is not from a person, but of the precious resource of the water in the well. Another meaningful point-of-view shot occurs when Lawrence and his guide spy the camel back man in the distance. The shot is from their perspective waiting to distinguish who the man is wavering in the mirage created by the desert sun. The mirage shot is interesting because it is established by the extreme long shot, the man is a speck on the screen, and because of the mirage seems to be making no progress. When the man does arrive, it seems as if it were in a blink of an eye, a testament to the strangeness of the desert to western eyes.