"The English Patient" dominated the 1997 Academy Awards, nearly sweeping the important technical awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Costumes, Best Editing). The film had a host of acting nominations (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress) with only Juliette Binoche winning.
Impressed by the honors disposed by the Academy, a flood of people rushed to the video store to rent "The English Patient", having ignored it while it played in theaters. They were confronted with a slow-moving art film nearly three hours in length. Lots of great cinematography, a heavy dose of romance, a lack of big names in the cast, and a definite lack of action and stock characters.
I was slightly disappointed by "The English
Patient" as well. John Seale's cinematography is
excellent, and the script is intelligent and
appropriately sparse. But while it is a very good
film, it is not outstanding. The film is slowly
paced and drags at times. The half of the story
featuring nurse Binoche is not as interesting as
the half featuring pre-patient Ralph Fiennes.
Also (this complaint is really petty) the burn
victim is a dead ringer for the shape-shifter
character on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine".
"The English Patient" has two storylines, one set
in 1945 Italy, the other in 1938-1944 Africa. The
first story has Binoche playing a vibrant nurse
who believes that she is cursed: everyone that
she loves dies. She falls for seriously burned
Fiennes, and has him taken to a deserted
monastery. They are soon visited by threatening
refugee Dafoe, who suspects that Fiennes is a
traitor, and Naveen Andrews, an Indian bomb squad
specialist who serves as love interest for
Binoche.
The story of Fiennes' jaded but impassioned
character is told in intermittent flashbacks. He
works for the British, making maps of Africa just
prior to World War II. Lovely Kristin Scott
Thomas, wife of one of Fiennes' friends, joins
the expedition. Thomas and Fiennes are thrown
together by events, and they have a torrid
affair. Her husband (Colin Firth) suspects.
"The English Patient" is beautifully filmed, but
not emotionally moving. The tearjerker ending is
a little contrived, and falls just short. There
is one heckuva plane crash, however. (73/100)
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