The English Patient

Rating:
Summary: Gets better with every viewing
Review: The first time I saw this movie in the theater in December 1996, I walked home in a daze. Not only was the cinematography breathtaking, the movie score was a sure Oscar bet I thought; I was right. It was a shoe in for best picture. My only regret is that Ralph Fiennes did not get Best Actor award. This is one of the finest movies of this century.

Five years later, I am upgrading my old tired VHS copy to DVD. I have just finished watching it for the eighth time, and am blown away by the level of intricacy in Minghella's project. There are so many layers, and I am continually amazed by the beauty, intimacy and depth of the characters and the storyline.

Rating:
Summary: Is there a Doctor in the house? No, make it a lawyer!
Review: This movie should be sued for malpractice. This is a story about liars and cheaters and it is hailed as a great love story. Excuse me, but what does love have to do with this story? NOT A THING! NOTHING!!! NADA!! ZIP!! ZERO!!! I seriously think this is a story people LIKE TO think they HAVE to LOVE. What a very sad commentary on our contemporary socieity when Elaine (a fictional character) has more sense than "real" (pretentious!) people!

Rating:
Summary: Patience Is Needed
Review: Let's begin with a little math: Artsy direction plus pointless story equals Oscars! Not too bad, but really I don't see all the fuss about "The English Patient." I've studied the book, watched the movie several times, and still don't see what's so great about it. Yes, it's pretty...even the burned German spy (now called English) doesn't look like a burned victim in ICU like he should look. Yes, there's a love story. There's WWII for all those WWII junkies. With all of this the movie is still boring, too long, and completely convoluted. It may be artsy, but art is subjective. I'd leave this one in the store and see other Oscar nominated movies from the same year such as "Shine."

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpeice
Review: "The English Patient" is one of the finest movies of our century. It combines all of the aspects and genre of contemporary and classic film. The acting is superb, the cinemotagrahpy is wonderful, and the story is that of deep and heartfelt emotion. I recommend this to anyone interested in obtaining the depth and magnitude of the world created in "The English Patient".

Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary adaptation of images
Review: The cinemtic texture of this film beautifully compliments the poignancy and imagination of the original novel.

Rating:
Summary: Why Would I care about The Characters?
Review: The movie is well done and nicely acted. But as for me, it lacks the main ingredient of a story: I did not care about the characters at all. Why would I, anyway? Why should I sympathize with two adulterers? And if the viewer does not care about the characters, this movie becomes excruciatingly long and boring. I found myself fast forwarding many a scene.

Rating:
Summary: a cinematic masterpiece?
Review: well, is it? i rented "The English Patient", thinking it would be slow and boring . . . but i was wrong. this movie was superb! i don't understand how you couldn't adore this movie!
the story isn't all that complicated: Hanna is a Canadian nurse serving in WWII Italy, where she discovers a horribly-burned "English patient", thanks to his accent. the hospital has to move, and Mr. English Patient cannot be moved far, so Hanna moves him to an abandoned monistary, where she can care for him. she listens to his stories and discovers he is really Count Laslo Almasy, a wealthy Hungarian archeologist, doing some map-making for the British Army in the late 1930s. he falls in love with the married Katherine (a rather dull but beautiful Kristin Scott Thomas) and they embark on a passionate but doomed affair.
meanwhile, Hanna is joined by David Caravaggio (a brilliant Willem Dafoe), a Canadian intelligence agent, who holds some distubing secrets about Almasy. Caravaggio is thumbless, and he blames the Count for it.
as Almasy's stories go on, Hanna and Caravaggio listen deeply about the tragic love story that ends rather sadly: the Count was burned in a plane crash, carrying the body of Katherine back to Cairo. it all ends in a sad but artistic and beautiful ending, with Almasy dying, and . . . well, watch the movie and find out for yourself!
truly a sad masterpiece, "The English Patient" won 9 Academy Awards, including Best Picutre and Director for Anthony Minghella.

Rating:
Summary: A splendid romance
Review: This is one of the most beautifully made movies in history. The clean and clear transfer to DVD makes it even more beautiful. It has one of the finest actors playing the star in Ralph Fiennes. It also has Dafoe and Binoche. The story is long yes, but why does that have to be a bad thing? If the movie is good, it shouldn't matter how long it is (that goes for you Leanard Maltin). This film has everything and deserved to win the academy award for best picture (although Fargo should have won this is still a great choice however).

Rating:
Summary: The best movie I ever saw
Review: The English Patient may not be the "coolest" movie I ever saw, but it sure is the best one. The way it's done, it has been built in a better way than the book by Michael Ondaatje, which is kind of slow. If this movie had been poorly made, the simple fact of the time slips between the scenes when the patient is in Italy with Hanna and the scenes when he's in Africa with Katherine would loose the spectator. Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott-Thomas are really perfect in the roles of two people caught in an unlikely love affair inside World War II. The Count Almasy's (Fiennes part) life is torn to pieces when he discovers himself in love with an english woman, wife of one of his friends working on maps of northern Africa. Almasy won't admit his love for Katherine even after they make love, and he doesn't believe she loves him back until is too late. And his fate is to be condemned to remember her, even after he's transformed into a living corpse. Juliet Binoche is the subtle touch of the movie. She's simple, beautiful, she has no one to return home to, so she devotes herself to take care of the burned patient until he's gone. And she finds a new love in a man with a tremendously dangerous job. During a time when nothing was certain, The English Patient is a story of lives that come together for a brief period of time, only to be taken apart again, but completely changed. Nine Oscars were not enough.

Rating:
Summary: This is a movie for........YOU!
Review: If this one doesn't getcha, nothing will. And the amazing extra footage and special features of the DVD make this an incredible deal for your money! You'll awe at the adventures of the young D'Caprio as he swindles himself onto the cruise of the millenium. You'll gasp with horror as fate steps in and the huge ship begins its plunge to the bottom of the ocean. At the end, you'll feel a deep sadness that, perhaps, with the ship, our dreams and hopes have sunk with it. It's a different, much more cynical world now. Let this movie remind you of what it feels like to dream...and let it serve as a piercing reminder of the fragile reality that these dreams hope to transcend.