Review of The English Patient

The English Patient won the academy award for best picture in the year it was released. This epic romance, historical drama has all the elements of a great film. It has a great cast of stars; Ralph Fiennes, Willem Dafoe, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scott Thomas, and a young Colin Firth. It also has a great crew in director Minghella, a great musical score, and a fantastic film editor in William Murch. Producer Saul Zaentz who has done numerous films that give meaning to the words cinematic art is at his best yet again in The English Patient.

            The narrative qualities of this film stand out the most. The multiple plot lines drive the film forward. It is hard not to become engrossed in the story lines of the film. Based on a very popular novel, the film is based around a love story set during World War II. Amidst a geographical expedition a group of geographers is attempting to map out North Africa. Sweeping scenes of the desert follow the action as Ralph Fiennes and Scott Thomas become romantically involved. Trapped inside of a truck by a sandstorm, Fiennes’ character gives into Mrs. Clifton’s charms. Mrs. Clifton shows up at Almasy’s apartment and after resistance from Scott Thomas’s character they make love. Yet, there is obvious disagreement between the two. He is Hungarian and she is British, enemies during the War.

            After much sneaking around, the two part ways as tensions between Britain and Germany rise. In analyzing the film I got the sense that the writer wanted to convey the perception that British Aristocrats were flawed. Scott Thomas cheating on her husband is a clear sign of moral weakness surely criticized by the British upper class. Yet, this is not a story about the decline of the British Aristocracy. I think it is more of a story about love and tragedy. About how important and visceral war experiences are. War is brutal.

I think it exposes our superficial notions of class, race, and nationality and how they come between people who are in love. Almasy and Mrs. Clinton are divided by nationality and Binoche are Kipp are divided by race, and neither resolves their conflict. The director leaves us heartbroken at the end of the movie; Almasy and Mrs. Clinton are dead, and Binoche and Kipp have split up. The experiences of war are tragic and not to be forgotten.

            The way the film is shot is also something to be commended. The use of temporal editing is abundant and well-conceived. The film cuts back and forth from the pre-war period in North Africa to the end of the war in Italy. This use of temporal editing is a unique and fabulous way to reveal the narrative. There are frequent dissolves throughout the movie and numerous close-up shots of the actors. All this leads to the tragic, romantic style of the film. There are also numerous aerial shots of the desert that have a hypnotic quality to them.

            I think the English Patient deserved to win the academy award for Best Picture. It is a grand tragic, romance. It is a love story in a time of war tying together people and places until all plot elements are resolved. The literary quality of the film is high and the adaptation has done the novel justice.