ABSTRACT
The power of imagery and action generally outweighed the anti-war lines, and the whole exercise indicated the difficulties of reworking the old colonial adventure genre for new times. Western filmmakers, in short, were still learning how to make anti-colonialist films, and despite its blind spots and shortcomings, Lawrence of Arabia advanced the transition to anti-colonialist filmmaking. The French, sensitized to colonial relationships with Arabs by their experiences in North films and Syria, showed keen interest in the politics. The concept of liberal colonialism resolves the apparent contradiction between the film’s colonialist imagery and its critique of Western behavior. The power of imagery and action generally outweighed the anti-war lines, and the whole exercise indicated the difficulties of reworking the old colonial adventure genre for new times. By the early 1960s, with most colonies independent, empire films faced an uncertain future.
