Rating: 
Summary: falls short of what it could have been
Review: Ralph Fiennes is one of my favorite actors. Juliette Binoche is one of my favorite actresses. I really enjoyed Ondaatje's novel. Why then, is this movie so dull? Perhaps it suffers from trying to stick too closely to the half of the novel it tries to depict. Perhaps there is just a lack of chemistry between the actors (Defoe in particular lacks a necessary dangerousness). I don't know. I just know that I do not care for this movie. I suggest that you read the novel instead. Don't write off Ondaatje's work just because of this lifeless (though critically acclaimed) motion picture.
Rating: 
Summary: ....this place here...
Review: With highly acclaimed pictures, especially the kind that come with lots of awards pinned to their DVD case like this one, it is sometimes hard to view the film with objectivity.
On first viewing(in the theatre)I was blown away or swept up in the grandeur of the cinematography. Like any epic it is the majesty of landscape as much as any thing else that determines our response. The story is a complex and complexly told ones and takes a lot of thinking to come to terms with. Its all told in flashback which is the only way to tell this story for only after the events have been placed in the past does the narrator gain the necessary perspective to tell it. While its happening(and we see it all unfold in those extended flashbacks) its all passion.
Ralph Fiennes is the archeologist who is working in the desert when the war breaks out. And Kristen Scott Thomas is the woman he falls in love with, she also happens to be married to his best friend. In the passion of their stolen moments, intensified by the wartime atmosphere, there is no time for moral judgement. Only afterwards does that part of things fully sink in. Only in the reliving of the events by telling them to his nurse Juliette Binoche does he experience the full implications of the decisions which shaped his life and the lives of those he loved. The story would not be half as powerful if it were told in the present tense as events were transpiring.
The desert scenery often seen from the perspective of the lovers flying over it is one of those rarest of cinematic pleasures. It takes your breath away and perfectly captures what the lovers are experiencing. It is also fitting that the tragedy of the story also involves the plane. You probably already know the story but just in case you don't.....
The actors are all tremendous and ultimately the addition of another character played by Willem Dafoe presents a subplot which nicely compliments the major one. Dafoe also relates his story in flashback.
There is a tremendous amount of moral ambiguity in the content of the story, and it is never really resolved.That annoys some but I think it lends the story a credibility and reality for that is often how things are left. The blurring of moral boundaries as well as political ones in order to raise questions about why they are there in the first place is the stuff of great literature and perhaps is the very essence of tragedy after all. Ondaatje writes about history bound characters in most of his books and his interesting use of time schemes and story framing allows him to put his characters in positions to comment on their own lives which has the effect of a Greek chorus comenting on mans helplessness in the face of events both external like the war, or internal like passion. Great novel and the great director Minghella brings it all to life. A lot of people don't feel it deserves all the praise it received but I think that is a natural reaction we Americans have toward massive successes. We love underdogs and don't trust popularity contests like the Oscars. But I think in this case anyway the praise is well deserved. One of the few movies that will survive the shifting trends of taste and style.
Rating: 
Summary: Most overrated movie of all time!
Review: The acting was good, the cinematagrophy was excellent, but overal this film was WAY overrated. The plot is simple, the characters are thrown together and supposed to have overwhelming desire for each other, but the whole time you suffer through a completely boring movie that had you left and came back half an hour later you have missed nothing. Elaine from Seinfeld expressed it best "This movie ...!"
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Film
Review: Superb acting( three oscar nominations:Fiennes, Scott Thomas,Binoche, the three main characters),outstanding musical score,breathtaking cinematography,perfect editing,excellent art direction and costumes,outstanding direction, are all present in this movie.
When I saw this movie for the first time in 1996 ,a few months prior to it's winning a lot of awards ,I thought that it had been a while since I had seen a movie of this caliber.
I sincerely recommend it without reservations.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Told Story!
Review: ...Breathtakingly painful scenes that puts myself inside the story watching it from a short distance.....They simply don't make films like this anymore, and if they do.....they dont succeed where The English Patient did.Fiennes and Thomas are perfect.
...Thomas ...is sexy and classy and passionate, and perhaps the only critical issue would be NOt seeing enough of her.
I say that because she became one of my all time favorite actresses when seeing her in this movie. ...The English patient is purely cinimatic in every turn. Binoche is a wonderfully gifted actress, she has never overplayed her roles and she is beautifuly deserving of her oscar. The Cinimatography is amazing throughout every shot in the movie.
The Musical score is what I call the unseen character.
Sometimes overlooked but not in the English Patient....Yared
is quickly becoming the John Barry of epic movies. I recommend this movie to those passionate individuals who seeks a different plain of romance.
Every single aspect of The English Patient is worth studying and learning from.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Movie
Review: English Patient is a thinking man's (or woman's) movie. The main story of a disfigured man and his nurse is paralleled by the man's story of he and his love. Beautifully shot and told through flashbacks, the story is set during World War II. English Patient won Best Picture in 1996. Also, Anthony Minghella won Best Director. Ralph Fiennes is excellent as the burned "english patient" who tells his story to his nurse, Juliette Binoche, who won Best Supporting Actress for her betrayal of Hana. Katharine is played by Kristin Scott Thomas, an excellent British actress; Willem Dafoe, Colin Firth, and Naveen Andrews round out the cast. Overall this is my favorite movie and deserving of the Academy Award it won. English Patient takes you away to another time and place and has you relive every moment of this man's life and agony. Well worth watching! ENJOY!!
Rating: 
Summary: Watch it for Ralph Fiennes
Review: THis is a MUST for any fan of Ralph Fiennes. Kristin Scott Thomas's character was strangely unlikeable, and seems to have been miscast, but Fiennes is absolutely PERFECT as Almasy. I can't get why Binoche managed to get an oscar while Fiennes missed out. Although he's badly burnt in half the movie, he still has all his charm and charisma intact, (not to mention those amazing eyes.) The film is rather LONG and I was disappointed that Hanah (Binoche) had no chemistry whatsoever with Kip (Andrews). The cinematography is excellent, but the movie as a whole was too drawn out. If you watch it, watch it for Fiennes, he is absolutely magnificent.
Rating:
Summary: A dreamlike distraction
Review: The beauty in the filming this destined to be classic movie, wraps you in the feeling of flying over the open desert, the sands of the Sahara in an open-cockpit plane. You live the adventure of exploring and mapping Africa, feel the freedom of the men who lived it and the frustration of pointless nation-state borders over an endless rolling land.
The myriad of contradictions in the modern era lay the backdrop and irony for this intricate and enticing film. It is poetic, it is sarcastic. It is time well-spent.
Rating:
Summary: Love-It-Or-Hate-It-Flick with an AMAZING Binoche!
Review: Easily one of those films that most women will adore and most men are advised to avoid, "The English Patient" is also much more. Glowing cinematography, sweeping vistas and a romance that resonates with both innocence and guilt at one and the same time, it's easy to see why critics adored it too, while many in the audience found it plodding and dull. SOme moments are held for what seems forever, by a camera that's in love with its own grandeur (and rightly so in my opinion.) AT times, the dialogue is muffled or highly British, so I've found myself hearing questions like "what'd he say?" thrown about in the dark. If you give it a chance and allow it to sink in, like the sand that's all around and ever-present on screen, "The English Patient" does stand as a work of wonder. Oscar winner for Best Picture and Director, it's most deserved award recipient and singular star-making surprise is Juliet Binoche in an almost thankless role as the Nurse who tends to a dying prisoner, whose face is a harrowing reminder of the war raging around them, and the landmines that exist in his story. There, we encounter evil Nazis and a (married) woman of exquisite beauty who becomes his muse and at once, his lover. The chilling love triangles that ensue, not to mention the back and forth thru time editing of the film's construct, can create havoc for any viewer. But, I encourage you to sit once through it, perfectly quiet, and just observe the grace and majesty it evokes through sound, visuals and spoken word. Listen to th elover's stories, and then witness Binoche's own transformation and power onscreen, and you will be hooked! A STAR IS BORN indeed....and not Minghella, but the inspired selection of Juliette Binoche in a landmark performance sure to rank among her greatest, when her fine career is tallied up.
Rating:
Summary: A mesmerizing epic
Review: One of the best movies of the last decades; beautifully acted and perfectly crafted . It seems to polarize the people that watch it, must love it and some definitely hate it, probably due to it's central topic of adultery and it's slow pace. I certainly agree with the Academy and it's nine oscars and twelve nominations, with the New York Times, Time, Los Angeles Times and nearly every major critic,all of whom strongly recommended this film.
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