The English Patient (1996)

Winner of nine Academy Awards and almost every critic's heart, The English Patient (based on Michael Ondaatje's prizewinning novel of love and loss during World War II) is one of the most acclaimed films of modern times. Hana, a nurse (Juliette Binoche), tends to an archaeologist (Ralph Fiennes) who has been burnt to a crisp in a plane crash. As their relationship intensifies, he flashes back to his overwhelming passion for a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas). Meanwhile, Hana begins a new romance with a man who defuses bombs (Naveen Andrews) and Willem Dafoe almost steals the show as the thumbless thief Caravaggio. The intricately layered flashback narrative, sounding the depths of the lovers' hearts, improves with repeated viewings--especially with the sharp picture and digital sound of the digital video disc. Amazon.com essential video

So did you like it or not?

I cannot believe all these interminable reviews. Do these people actually think anyone has time to read their massive missives?

Here's the thing, buy the DVD. Watch it lots of times. I've seen it maybe 50 times and just the last time I saw it did I catch the last thing that Katherine wrote in Almasys' Herodotus as she died.
And then I noticed Minghella's shot after Almasy jumps from the train, how he's framed against the blue sky as the music swells and then there's Fiennes fierce face.
Every time I see it, I catch something new, there's so much going on that it's like a piece of music for me, it keeps revealing itself. Maybe that was Minghella's gift.
I love this movie slavishly, the way some love Casablanca or Star Wars.
December 21, 2008

Oasis in the Desert

"The English Patient" is a curate's egg among the Academy Awards. It's an artistically beautiful,sensual film though at times it's slow and bogs down. It has a talented ensemble cast,and lush settings in the North African desert and the Tuscan countryside.

A nurse,Hana (Juliette Binoche) finds a terribly burnt Hungarian nobleman,Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes) At the same time,she is caring for a thumbless artist,Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe),and has met a handsome Sikh (Naveen Andrews) While she reveals Renaissance murals, she also gradually reveals connections among the men she cares for. On a mapmaking expedition,Almasy fell for a beautiful married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas,with Colin Firth as her husband) They carried on a brief,passionate affair. Like a mirage,it faded. Their affair was an oasis for their hearts. Soon, they are stranded in the desert. She is dying; he looks for help.

"The English Patient" shows the consequences of marital betrayal--not only does Almasy lead a woman to betray her husband (and he his friend&colleague),he also betrays his country by collaborating with the Germans. It comes at a great personal cost. He is horribly disfigured,his body reflecting his soul. His adultery isn't rewarded. Caravaggio realizes,to his horror,that Almasy's actions led to him being tortured by a German commandant (Jurgen Prochnow)

"The English Patient" is a masterpiece in its own way. It has spectacular settings, wonderful acting. In other ways,it's bland and forgettable. It's a Lifetime channel for women movie in Northern Africa and Tuscany. November 15, 2008

Technically it is still a master piece.

It is an interesting film, but not more than that. What does it shows? That the English were particularly sectarian during WW2 on the African front. Nothing new under the sun. Anyone who had a slightly different name or a slightly surprising or uncommon attitude was at once considered as a spy unworthy of any trust. This created myriads or even legions of misunderstandings and human errors along with cruelty, barbaric acts, violence, etc. The only interest of this film is the technical brilliance in the use of flashbacks that only happen in the head of this English patient who plays the loss of his memory to protect himself against his own name and his own ascendants. Yet his survival is not possible and the nurse who is looking after him is little by little led to being convinced by him that she has to overdose him with morphine, which she does. The sentimental elements along the way for the nurse or the Sikh bomb and mine technician are there only to provide a present time line onto which the flashbacks can be woven and attached. The acting is absolutely outstanding, even if the story is rather trite.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
September 19, 2008

This movie drove me to go out and devour the book & meet the characters whom the author truly intended to introduce.

At the risk of sounding snobbish, I won't typically invest my time on entertainment which is focused on adultery. It's just one of a variety of subjects which maybe I wish to distance myself from being emotionally involved in someone else's self-destructive behavior. That said, I don't shun the many artistic expressions which skirt about the intrigues of illicit romance to bring a viewer, a reader, a listener, a greater feeling for the dramatic effect of the story. No one contends that a prose or a poem or a lyric may not carry & deliver a story line. but even a still photo may reveal the aspect of a place and it's dramatic impact on the subject.

The 'great' paintings from Da Vinci to Vermeer convey an almost tangible envelope of drama into which a viewer may be invited to slip away. 'English Patient' the movie is 'great' cinematography. Glorious landscapes, passionate characters broken by war, and artful screen writing all combine through a series of flash-backs with powerful spiritual overtones. It's not just a sappy romance; although, it includes a Sapper (someone who explodes bombs) who falls in love with a Canadian Nurse in Italy. August 18, 2008

Honestly, a rather dull exercise....

I saw this film the year it came out, and I kept telling myself "everyone says it's a great film", and I tried to convince myself that it was, but it isn't. It's OK. It's another mediocre best picture Oscar winner.

I saw the film a few days after seeing Kenneth Branagh's film of Hamlet, which came out the same year (1996). I saw Hamlet in the theater. Kenneth shot the film in 70mm, and it was shimmeringly gorgeous, with some of the best cinematography I had seen that decade. Hamlet had a few stunt casting flaws, but I can recall vividly many scenes from it, and it's still a great film 12 years later. When I saw The English Patient, it seemed puny and forgettable. I attributed this to seeing Hamlet a few days earlier, so I decided then to rent Patient (letterboxed) when it came to laserdisc (DVD was not around, but the laser was letterboxed), and I still didn't like it. It's not a terrible film, but not a particularly memorable one, and a rather dull, lifeless one. I remember fragments from it, but overall, I don't remember feeling anything while watching it, and that's rather telling. Many critics foolishly compared it to Lawrence of Arabia (they should be smacked), but it's a soap opera in the desert, not an intellectual, thought provoking epic in the desert like Lean's film was. The film has good performances, some nice cinematography, but overall it's a disappointing film and not worthy of the accolades it received. It's not the worst best picture winner (Forrest Gump might win that title), but it's not a very good film.

August 8, 2008

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