Writer's Date Night

After a really crazy and busy week at work, I decided to treat myself to my writer's date night tonight. I came home and didn't want to think or do anything too taxing. I simply wanted to have a very relaxing evening watching one of my Netflix movies. The latest movie I received on DVD was Lawrence of Arabia.
I have been putting off watching this epic film because it's so long - nearly four hours long. I knew little about the film except that it was supposed to be visually beautiful to watch. I concur with this. I almost wish I had a chance to watch it on the big screen in the movie theater. I bet it would be stunning.
The story is an interesting one. Lawrence is an odd-ball and seems to finally find a niche in the deserts of Arabia. He helps unite tribes of Arabs against the Turks as the world is at war with itself. Lawrence, a British officer, bucks the lines of authority and begins dressing and acting like an Arab. He rallies a divided people and becomes a heroic figure to them. Yet, throughout the movie he is just a very strange person.
I liked the movie for the cinematography. I don't know that I really cared about the story. It was okay but some of it seemed over the top. Peter O'Toole sometimes seems to be trying way to hard.
Probably one of my favorite parts of the film were it's long periods of hardly any dialogue. This is a movie in which the director was not afraid to let the picture tell the story. And while it's a military movie it's not really an action movie so much as it is an artistic expression of Lawrence's life and times. I don't know how much of the movie accurately represents Lawrence's life, but what it does do is try to show Lawrence with all of his gifts and weaknesses.
I think one of the underlying themes of the movie was that no matter where one goes in the world, his or her home still has a strong attraction. Whatever people consider their home becomes a point of reference. For Lawrence this was England. As much as he said he loved the desert and the Arab people, he still was an Englishman who eventually wound up back in his home country.
I know this same thing is true for me. When people ask me where I am from, I will almost always say Mishawaka, Indiana. It's my hometown but more than that, I feel like it's my home. I don't own property there. I have no family there except for some cousins. Most of my friends no longer live there but it still is a place that I call home. No matter where I go, I still see Mishawaka as home.
Well, I'd better get to bed. It's late and I have a big day tomorrow. We have a house dedication service in the morning in Florence, Kentucky. It's going to be a wonderful celebration and a great day for the family and for TriState Habitat for Humanity.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!