Rating: 
Summary: PASSIONATE MOVIE
Review: THE ENGLISH PATIENT IS A BEAUTIFUL, MESMERIZING FILM. IT IS CINEMA AT IT'S BEST.I TRULY RECOMMEND IT.
Rating:
Summary: This is a monument we can stand by...
Review: In this story about borders and the differences between...we find combatants engaged in more immediate struggles, for the right to be regardless of boundaries. Count Almasy, one of the inadvertent architects of drawn lines on maps...finds himself seemingly on the wrong side of them as his whole world comes crashing down around him and the decisions he makes at this time would lead to devastating and violent events for people he holds in high regard...for people too he has never met, but will.
This is an anti-war story as I have never seen one told. Forget 'Saving Private no-mates'...this is beautiful. This is surely the eulogy for the ordinary mortals: Those men and women called upon to be more than they knew...all who cared enough to 'Never give in', all who fought racial supremacy, tyranny and calculated malignancy, FROM ALL OVER OUR WORLD, would perhaps , might just, in their hearts appreciate of we...the succeeding generations. Truly really marvellously masterfully beautiful. A worthy monument indeed.
Rating:
Summary: A Truly Remarkable Film
Review: In a style reminiscent of the best of David Lean, this romantic love story sweeps across the screen with epic proportions equal to the vast desert regions against which it is set. It's a film which purports that one does not choose love, but rather that it's love that does the choosing, regardless of who, where or when; and furthermore, that it's a matter of the heart often contingent upon prevailing conditions and circumstances. And thus is the situation in "The English Patient," directed by Anthony Minghella, the story of two people who discover passion and true love in the most inopportune of places and times, proving that when it is predestined, love will find a way.It's WWII; flying above the African desert, Hungarian Count Laszlo de Almasy (Ralph Fiennes) is shot down, his biplane mistaken for an enemy aircraft. And though he survives the crash, he is severely burned. To his great good fortune, however, he is rescued by a tribe of nomads and winds up in a hospital. But existing conditions are governed by circumstances of war, and Almasy soon becomes one of many patients being transported via convoy to a different facility. Upon reaching Italy, he is too weak and ill to continue on, and a Canadian nurse, Hana (Juliette Binoche), volunteers to stay behind with him at an abandoned monastery. Hana soon discovers that her charge is something of a man of mystery, as Almasy remembers nothing of his past, and not even his own name. Thought to be English, the only clues pointing to who he is are contained in a book found in his possession after the crash, but even they are as cryptic as Hana's patient. Slowly, however, under prompting from Hana, Almasy begins to remember bits and pieces of his life, and his story begins to unfold. And his memory is helped along even more by the appearance of a mysterious stranger named Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), who suspects that Almasy is the man he's been looking for-- a man with whom he wants to settle a score. But, burned beyond recognition, Almasy may or may not be that man. Meanwhile, Almasy's memories continue to surface; memories of a woman he loved, Katherine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas)-- as well as memories of Katherine's husband, Geoffrey (Colin Firth). And, crippled in mind and body as he is, those memories become the only thing left to which he can cling with any hope at all, even as his life seems to be slipping farther away with each passing moment. In addition to directing, Anthony Minghella also wrote the screenplay for this film, which he adapted from the novel by Michael Ondaatje. The result is an epic saga presented in the tradition of Lean's "Doctor Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia"; a magnificent film that fills the screen and the senses with unprecedented grandeur and beauty. Simply put, Minghella's film is genius realized; crafted and delivered with a poetic perfection, watching it is like watching a Monet come to life. From the opening frames, Minghella casts a hypnotic spell over his audience that is binding and transporting, with a story that has an emotional beauty that equals the engagingly stunning and vibrant images brought to life by John Seale's remarkable cinematography; images that virtually fill the screen as well as the soul of the viewer. In every sense, this is a film of rare eloquence, with a striking emotional capacity that facilitates an experience that is truly transcendental. Nominated in twelve categories, it deservedly received a total of nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Binoche) and Cinematography. If one had to choose a single word to describe the "essence" of this film, it would be "excellence." Even an extraordinary film, however, does not receive nine Oscars without performances that are extraordinary in kind; and the performances given by Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas here transcend the term "Oscar worthy." Nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Almasy (Geoffrey Rush was awarded the gold for "Shine"), Fiennes has never been better, achieving an emotional depth with his character that is nearly palpable. Private and introspective, Almasy is not by his very nature an individual to whom the audience will be able to form an intimate connection; Fiennes, however, finds a way to open that emotional door just enough to let you in, enough so that you taste the honest passion welling up within him. And it works. Almasy does not seek your friendship; he will, however, gain your compassion. Kristen Scott Thomas, too, received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (Frances McDormand received the award for "Fargo") for her portrayal of Katherine, a woman whose stoic countenance masks the emotional conflict raging within her, born of the forbidden passion that enslaves her and yet to which she gives herself willingly, casting off her shackles of repression to embrace a love so strong it threatens to consume her. The reserve Katherine must maintain evokes the empathy of the audience, as Scott Thomas successfully mines the emotional depths of her character to the greatest possible effect. It's the kind of performance that draws you in and holds you fast, taking you as it does beyond that curtain of hypocrisy that dictates what must be if only for the sake of appearances, and allows you to experience a true sense of unbridled passion. Understated and shaded with subtlety, it's terrific work by Kristin Scott Thomas. Binoche gives a stunning, affecting performance, as well, as the kindhearted nurse, Hana; it is her humanity, in fact, which defines love in it's purest sense and offers a balanced perspective of it within the context of the film. Her relationship with Kip (Naveen Andrews) affords us a glimpse of passion of another kind, which contrasts effectively with the intensity of that between Almasy and Katherine. "The English Patient" is a film that will move you and fill you emotionally; one you will not want to see end.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: The English Patient is one of the best films I have seen.It has a plot that is complex and mesmerizing.
I quote some words from TIME magazine in it's excellent article,THE BEST CINEMA OF 1996 in which this picture was # 1 for that year:For many European wanderlusters who found an Eden in the Sahara, the desert was a woman-dazzling, enveloping. In such a place the hungarian aristocrat Count Almasy(Fiennes) finds his ideal desert woman(Scott Thomas) and follows her to hell. He then lives, just barely, to tell to a ministering angel( Binoche) who can give him what he needs: not absolution but understanding.The lovers,Fiennes, all coiled sexiness, threat shrouded in hauteur and Kristin Scott Thomas,who has the gift of making intelligence erotic,come together in a dance of doom that is abrasive,mysterious,powerful,inevitable. Minghella's beautiful film gets the rapture right, with a scope and intimacy rarely seen on film since the David Lean days.
This review in my opinion perfectly expresses the appeal and greatness of this beautiful film.
Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: ... This film is set around a time of World War, at the collapse of European imperialism, when the established thinking of the world was 'carve it up...first come first served...winner take all'. Events would ultimately precipitate a drastic change in this approach The characters represented in this film's story have one overriding thing in common, they none of them recognise the borders between them...which is the underlying script here. Even the Bedouin tribes help the Hungarian Count they find in the desert, no questions asked, and it is only those characters in the film whose sole purpose is the propagation of demarcations and boundaries that distinguish the protagonists at war, (best shown by the British infantrymen of whom the unlucky count seeks aid) who perceive the 'them & us' mentality that needs must accompany historical conflicts This is a film about the horrors of war told through the lives of some very different characters from very different places, some you'll like more than others, flawed and even despicable maybe but never threatening and never the architects of such destruction as is wrought about them ... (Indian Princes sat in the House of Lords, the British Parliament, making law for this country two centuries ago, Victoria had a Jewish Prime Minister..Disraeli...a very admired man...the enlightened are all quite integrated you know ... These are people and flawed like any of us. Like any of us, had they known their fate ...in hindsight...then they may have played their parts differently and so would we all. Again perfect pious people...look to yourselves. The very fact that these professionals out in the desert were the inadvertent architects of yet more boundaries placed as drawn lines upon maps of the world, the harvest of such previous pennings they suffered from and the fruits of which we suffer still is beyond poignant...it is sublime irony. A truly remarkable story about the everyday really. Beautifully done throughout and by all.
Rating:
Summary: Even more than meets the eye
Review: Yes, the acting is superb and the cinematography amazing, but this movie is one to be watched again and again for the symbolism and motifs of the story. Each of the four main characters represents one of the 4 elements: Almasy - air, Katherine - water, Hanna - fire, and Kip - earth. Only recently, I caught Almasy's comment about problems being solved more easisly if everyone could see the disputed land from the air, and I got chills the first time I realized the # of the bomb Kip reads was K1PP###. Besides the elemental symbolism, the ideas of identity, nationality and ownership are also woven throughout the tale with such subtly that you can't believe how often they appear when you look for them. And how wonderful is it that Almasy is literally drawing lines in the sand as a pre-war cartographer? "The English Patient" is a movie to own and cherish!
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly Unlikeable
Review: The one star is for Juliette Binoche and the cinematography, but if desert scenery is what turns you on, don't waste your time with this when you could be watching "Lawrence of Arabia" - a passionately-involving movie about people you care about. In other words, the opposite of this. There are many critically-acclaimed movies that leave me indifferent, but few where I actually loathe the principals. Wartime adultery can be made sympathetic; where, for example, one spouse is presumed dead (as in "Casablanca"). Here, however, it's impossible to feel sympathy for a woman willing to betray an amazingly decent husband for the pure thrill of the moment. Lack of sympathy becomes nausea in a certain scene where the husband is mere yards away the frantic sexual activity. If there are viewers who found this "romantic," I despair for their morals. And on top of all this, the movie is just plain dull, with the only true heart coming from the sub-plot with Juliette Binoche and her lover. The only saving grace is that the memory of even seeing this thing fades with time....
Rating: 
Summary: Belongs in the "Creature Features" Hall of Fame
Review: I hate to sound flip about a movie that made such an impressive sweep of the Academy Awards, but this film could best be described as "The Elephant Man meets Lawrence of Arabia." Perhaps I was expecting too much because of all the media hype and the awards. The other thing that got hyped about the movie was the spectacular cinematography. I can only assume this was because of all the shots involving Kristen Scott Thomas's bare breasts. For example, there are shots of Thomas's breasts with a Morrocan courtyard in the background, of her breasts with the Morrocan desert in the background, and of her breasts with a Moroccan interior in the background. I guess Morroco is so flat that Thomas's breasts are the only mountains to be seen in this vast expanse of desert. I agree, Thomas has very nice breasts, and I would even say they are tastefully and even artfully presented in the movie, but this is not enough to qualify a movie as having great cinematography, either. Her breasts almost got enough play in the movie to deserve an extra screen credit by themselves. However, not to completely bash the movie, there are some beautiful and even spectacular shots of the Morrocan landscape (or wherever it got filmed), and the complex story line with its flashbacks backward and forward in time is not without interest. Ralph Fiennes and Binoche gave fine performances, especially Fiennes, who really deserved the Academy award more than Binoche, but I thought Thomas was somewhat miscast in her role. The movie is also too long and drags in too many places. Overrall I expected more from a movie that got so much hype and media attention--no doubt that should have been a warning to me. But the movie wasn't bad. I give it high marks for cinematography and some of the acting, but overall I can't rate it higher than about three and a half stars.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite movies
Review: This movie makes me cry everytime I see it. Ralph Fiennes is incredible in his role. The movie really brings up a moral dilemma and is left somewhat unresolved in the most pitiful way you could imagine and you just flat out bawl crying. I loved it so much!! I do think you will either love or hate this movie. I think the book is not so good. This is one case in which a movie is better than a book.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to stay focused, but worth it in the end
Review: Great love story... What else can I say?
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