The English Patient
Visually stunning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's book about love,
betrayal and loss before and during the second World War. Ralph
Fiennes is the title character, a horribly burned man recovering
in a makeshift hospital on the Italian countryside. Juliette Binoche
is Hana, the war-weary nurse who dedicates herself to caring for
the patient. Eventually joining Hana in the converted villa
are Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), a thief turned spy who may know
more about her patient than he lets on, and Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh working
as a sapper to defuse the mines and unexploded bombs that litter the
Italian countryside. As time goes by, the English patient begins
to recall his history. He is actually Count Almasy, who was
part of a multinational expedition team exploring the dunes of northern
Africa. During the expedition, he began a torrid affair with
Katharine (Kristen Scott Thomas), the wife of one of his colleagues.
This story, in flashback, is told in parallel with the blossoming
relationship between Hana and Kip. The look of this film is a visual
feast, with terrific desert vistas that hearken back to Lawrence of Arabia.
The story is a feast as well, with both storylines well thought out and
intelligently interwoven. The English Patient is lengthy (clocking at
over two and a half hours), but well paced, and never seems over-long.
Director Anthony Minghella does an excellent job of guiding the film to
an enjoyable mix of passion, thrills and sorrow. The acting
is superb all around. Fiennes and Thomas are standouts with their
passionate affair, and Binoche deserves credit as the tender nurse.
The English Patient is a labyrinthine film, with plenty of mysteries
and secrets all around, and it is a film not to be missed.
Click here to add a comment.
-
-
- 
- 
- 
reviews@cinematter.com