The English Patient (1996)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

not as good as all the hype

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The English PatientFew high pitched dramatic sequences are shot so beautifully that it is almost impossible not to be moved by it but ticking for around 160 minutes the build of the scrutiny is chewed off way too much before it even hits the screen. Anthony Minghella's adaptation isn't smart enough to match its brilliant execution skills that helps connect the dots no matter how much time it consumes. Ralph Fiennes is brilliant in his portrayal and is supported thoroughly by a great supporting cast like Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe and Colin Firth. The English Patient is a character driven feature where it goes boldly to a dark place and still somehow manages to keep it beautiful and filled with hope where the key lies onto its moving performance.

People have made jokes about this film, like me. I saw it for the first time last night, in it's entirety. This near two three quarter hour movie, is one you become more engrossed in, the longer you watch. One reason, is to find the catalyst, responsible for a plane that goes down, where survivor Fiennes (yeah, the reputable guy on airlines) a lone author who becomes involved in a fatal affair, that claims beauty, Kristin Scott Thomas, never looking sexier, here. He's working with an archaeologist team, from what I can see, in the wide spanning desert of Cairo, not a place you want to brake down in, Summer or fall, where it's headed by Firth, Kristin Scott's Thomas's husband. The fatal affair intensifies, as we go back and forth with a bed ridden, skinless, Fiennes who has practically lost his face, and other features, burnt beyond recognition (think the sloth victim in Se7en) where he's nursed by army sister, (Binoche, a wonderful actress) who has her eyes on someone else. She plays a quite damned, if a little reserved nurse, whose time and dedication to her patients, where I'm really talking Fiennes here, is much admired. Willem Dafoe plays a bit of a shadowy character, out for revenge against Fiennes, where I could piece the whole following scenario, as experiencing this love triangle in other films, but there's a little bit more to it, which I liked, Dafoe's reasons for his black woolen mitts. Here's a great film, with great actors and characters, especially the ambiguous one of Fiennes, which should be viewed, by those who haven't seen it, even 20 years after it's release. It's ending is sad and memorable, if bleak too, especially if you consider Fienne's fate. Great film, that will stay with you, after seeing it.

I am not sure what made this picture click. Its so slow and there is pretty much nothing - no acting, no screenplay. I guess i belong to a minority who considers this movie a waste of mind boggling 3 hours. There is nothing in this story. A badly burnt guy telling about his love interest whom he left in a cave. Oh my god!!! The random nurse and what is the point of the sikh sapper angle??

The extramarital affair of two rich pompous and pretentious people who indulge in their own delights whilst others fulfil their duty to the war on the frontline, is the centre to this story. They are an utterly boring pair, especially the English patient himself, who proudly proclaims "I do not bargain (with the local market merchants)" in a disdainful tone. They are a construct always speaking as if they are reciting pretentious poetry. The historical chronicles of Herodotus are referred to by the pair repeatedly as if to remind the viewer that these people are oh so learned. When playing spin the bottle with others singing funny songs and having fun around a campfire, the female protagonist (the only woman in the company of about 5 men) recites a boring story of Gyges lusting for Candaules and her nakedness. That's when we first glimpse her narcissism and flirtatious personality.The most preposterous part is when our poetic lovers are stranded in the desert due to a plane crash involving the grieving husband. As she is injured, and her husband lies dead, her besotted lover leaves her alone with a flashlight and her precious Herodotus in a cave in the middle of the desert and walks to get help. Yes, that's right. With an ankle fracture her fate is sealed when he leaves her alone, whilst he embarks on a 3 day journey through the desert to return with a car. He is unsuccessful (there is a war after all). After a substantial period of time, he returns to the cave. Her body would be either desiccated or bloated, yet she is shown as fresh as the moment he left her when he lifts her in his arms and puts her in a plane again. Taking off, he crashes again in the desert and is burned to near death, but taken by passing Arabs to a hospital (through the desert again). A nurse, abandons her duties to wounded soldiers to feed and administer morphine repeatedly to this one selfish man for a substantial period of time, and she is portrayed as an angel.This movie sentimentalises and romanticises war. The love story is puerile and gross. I think lovers of cinematography might like it.