In 1990s Miramax reinvented itself - at first it was known as the champion of American independent cinema. These days it is best known as the Oscar machine - studio that makes expensive, pretentious films clearly designed for the single purpose of gaining as much of Academy Awards as possible. In past few years Miramax was quite successful in doing that, and one of the more spectacular coups was The English Patient, 1996 epic melodrama written and directed by Anthony Minghella.
Success of The English Patient can be partially explained by the plot that combines elements of two beloved "Oscar" winners of the past - Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia. Another reason is the script's literary basis in the form of prize-winning novel by Michael Ondaatje. The film begins in North Africa during WW2. British biplane is shot down by German anti-aircraft artillery and its badly burned pilot (played by Ralph Fiennes) gets rescued by Arab nomads. At the end of 1944 in Italy he finds himself in Italy as a patient in Canadian military hospital, unable or unwilling to declare his identity. Hanna (played by Juliette Binoche) is a Canadian nurse who gets intrigued by a mysterious disfigured man. Knowing that his life is about to end, she leaves her post and brings "English Patient" to an abandoned monastery in order to care for him in his last days. There she gets visited by Kip (played by Naveen Andrews), Sikh bomb disposal expert within British Army, and Caravaggio (played by Willem Dafoe), mysterious character who thinks he knows something about true identity of "English Patient". In the meantime, the "English Patient" remembers late 1930s when he used to be Count Almassy, Hungarian explorer accompanying British expedition mapping the Saharan desert. There he befriended Geoffrey Clifton (played by Colin Firth) and later began torrid extramarital affair with Geoffrey's wife Katherine (played by Kristen Scott-Thomas).
All those who sit through 162 minutes of The English Patient are going to be awarded by John Seale's beautiful cinematography, couple of incredibly effective shots of desert, splendid costumes and powerful and very credible performance by Kristen Scott Thomas (and the acting talent is not the only thing Thomas reveals in this film). Unfortunately, all of the above represents the only reason why would anyone have to endure this film. The narrative structure that melts the past with the present was unfortunate - the "past" North African segment, full of adventure and exotic surroundings is much more interesting than Italian "present" with its pedestrian events and the boring and completely unnecessary love affair between Hanna and Kip. Even more problematic is the lack of likeable characters in the film - all the visual splendour and "romantic" atmosphere can't hide the fact that the audience must root for women who cheat on their husbands, aristocrats who collaborate with Nazis and nurses who desert their posts and abandon their wounded comrades. To make matters worse, some of the characters and subplots aren't explored enough, leaving impression of The English Patient as unfinished film. WW2 buffs among the audience would have to suffer another Hollywood travesty in the form of German paratroopers landing in Tobruk 1942 - scene that looks great but has little do with historic reality. The acting also leaves much to be desired - with exception of Scott-Thomas, everyone in the film has made rather bland performance. And that includes even Juliette Binoche, despite her Oscar. In short, The English Patient represents one of many recent Hollywood products that gave Oscar such a bad name.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on May 7th 2003)
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