His Prime Time

After Lawrence of Arabia, I just couldn't do anything properly. I was taken away to another place, another time. I started it with a simple dinner when it was bright and pleasant, an ordinary summer evening in Europe where the night is not born until nine. When I finished the movie, it was dark, and the sunlight was a hint of the past, a rumor that will never happen.

I've watched Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year, The Lion in Winter, and Venus; it is Venus (2006) that pushes me to watch Lawrence of Arabia. In Venus he fell off a stool for trying to peep at a girl's body and O'Toole manages to fall so convincingly. The old day's glory isn't worth a dime and he has long given up his pride.

The depth of Peter O'Toole's performance matches the complexity of of the life of T.E. Lawrence. In the first half of the film, he was considered brave but he couldn't stop trembling when talking about the unavoidable death. In the second half he burst into hysterical laughter when he saw the living hell of Turkish survivors in an intentional overkilling, a result of his own doing.

Lawrence died young but O'Toole lives old. Due to heavy drinking he looks older than he actually is. It's hard not to see the pride and shame coexist in those eyes, sometimes peacefully, sometimes not so peacefully. The war didn't end, nor does it confine to Arabia.

"道其盛時，以悲其衰。" ——歐陽修（1007-1072）
"tell/his/prime/time,to/feel for/his/withering" --O-Yang Hso(1007-1072)

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