“The English Patient” won Best Picture in 1997. It is based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje. The screenplay was written by Anthony Minghelia, who went on to direct the film. It was a pet project of his and it paid off big time. The movie was a critical and box office success. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards. It won for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche), Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Score, and Sound. It was nominated for Adapted Screenplay, Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Actress (Kristin Scott Thomas). It won the BAFTA for Best Film. It won the Golden Globe for Best Drama. The soundtrack won a Grammy. It was #56 on AFI’s list of 100 Passion films in 2002. In 1999, it was #55 on BFI’s list of Best British Films. The movie was shot in Tunisia and Italy. The movie was originally going to be produced by Fox, but when Minghelia refused to cast Demi Moore in the role of Katharine. Kristin Scott Thomas had lobbied hard for the role. Miramax picked up the film. Bruce Willis turned down the Caravaggio role, which he later regretted. Danial Day-Lewis turned down the role of the Count. Possibly because he did not want to spend five hours in makeup. Fiennes was all in and even insisted in the full body cast for scenes where it was only head shots.
The movie is told in flashback. In the last days of the Italian Campaign of WWII, a badly deformed amnesiac (Fiennes) is being nursed in an abandoned monastery. His nurse is Hana (Binoche) and they are joined by a Canadian intelligence officer named Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe). Caravaggio was tortured by the Germans and is looking for a collaborator who aided in his arrest. He suspects the patient, who speaks English. Caravaggio teases out the story through flashbacks. It turns out that the English patient was a Hungarian count who was a cartographer for a British archeological and surveying expedition in the Sahara. He had an affair with the wife (Thomas) of a colleague. It is romantic and tragic. And a mystery because we want to know how he ended up in this bed in Italy.
This is one of the best war movies to watch with your significant other if they don’t like war movies. It is entertaining even for men, if you can sit through 162 minutes of romance. Frankly, the movie is too long even for females in the audience. It could have been worse as Minghelia’s original cut was 250 minutes. What do we get with our final cut? A competent romance with some intriguing elements that will keep the non-romantics from falling asleep. You do want to find out who this guy is and what his connection to Caravaggio is. However, the Caravaggio character seems to have wandered in from another movie. I overlooked that because I love me some Willem Dafoe.
The flashback structure works well. This was a good decision because in the novel the Count is simply telling his story straight out. The editor (Walter Murch) earned his Oscar. It was the first digitally-edited movie to win an Academy Award for editing. The movie is an acting showcase and is a reason to see the movie. The desert scenes have a bit of a “Lawrence of Arabia” vibe.
“The English Patient” is one of those war movies that is a war movie because it is set in a war. Well, actually it is a romance set in a war. But I’m not arguing it isn’t a war movie, because it is. It’s just hard to say that it is one of the most acclaimed war movies. It didn’t win all those Oscars because it was a war movie. (Speaking of the Oscars, 1997 has to be considered one of the biggest cock-ups as “The English Patient” won over the clearly superior “Fargo”.) As a war movie, it is not that great. No one would seriously put it on a list of the 100 Best War Movies. It works much better as a movie than as a war movie. As a war movie lover, I’m glad I saw it, but I would never watch it again. Unless I remarry.
GRADE = C+
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