The English Patient (Miramax Collector's Edition) | Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche

The English Patient (Miramax Collector's Edition) | Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche | Great movie

DVDs:

The English Patien...

	The English Patient (Miramax Collector's Edition) Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche Miramax Home Entertainment, 2004 average customer review:based on 332 reviews view larger image
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At the end of World War II, four survivors live in an abandoned villa in Italy: a nurse, her English patient, a thief whose skills were put to heroic use during the war, and an Indian sapper hunting out unexploded bombs.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD

Great epic film, and terrific DVD set.

The grand epic tale and love story, The English Patient, really requires multiple viewings to truly appreciate. When I watched it the first time it was the characters and their relationships that held my attention. The second time I was better able to understand the fairly complex plotline. And the third time I was able to admire the great look and cinematography of the film more than other viewings, as well as pay more attention to many small details within. I'm not going to go deep into the plot in this review. I'm just going to say it revolves around a man, Count Laszlo (Ralph Fiennes) who gets shot down in a plane during the Second World War, seriously burning just about all of his body. Hana (Juliette Binoche), a Canadian nurse makes a choice to stay behind her team and care for this English Patient (who isn't even English). The Count has lost quite a bit of his memory, but he regains it as she reads the book he had with him. Flashbacks then tell of his past story, mostly before the war, in North African and his relationship with the married Katherine Clifton (Christian Scott Thomas). Also in the present a stranger (William Dafoe) arrives and ads another layer of complexity to the story.

Now saying more that about the plot could diminish the experience for any seeing the film for the first time. I'll just add the performances of the four main leads are all terrific. Binoche won a supporting actress Oscar for it and deservingly so as really the heart of the film that connects the present to the past. Fiennes and Thomas have great chemistry in their relationship that builds itself piece by piece. Some complain this film is boring. Well it's builds itself slowly, but I have never found it boring. The relationships are fascinating and it takes the viewer from place to place with a superb beauty and detail in just about every shot. Seriously I doubt there's a bad shot in the entire film. The film could have trimmed itself down some, shortening or eliminating a scene or two, but honestly I don't have a problem with its length at all. I don't rank this film with the like of Lawrence of Arabia or Gone with the Wind, but it certainly stands as one of the great modern film epics. A must see for anyone who can appreciate a top quality art film.

The DVD is a 2 disk set, and the second disk has some fascination special features involving the making of the film, the film makers and cast, and the author of the book The English Patient. There are also some deleted scenes I found particularly fascinating. I haven't yet viewed the commentary, but look forward to it. The director, Anthony Minghella, died just March this year at the age of just 54. It was a great loss to film making (he also directed Cold Mountain and Truly Madly Deeply among other films). We lost a great film maker, and I dedicate this review in his behalf.

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Great movie

The movie was beautifully done - great cast and direction....
The story is compelling - whethere you agree or disagree with the decisions the charactors made under the circumstances.
It is certainly a movie worth of your time.

Good story but full frontal nudity spoiled it!

I have to say I enjoyed this movie as it showed how far a man would go for the woman he loved, but the full frontal nude scene spoiled it. Kristen Scott Thomas's character could have pull a towel around herself as she stepped out of the bath, but I guess morals went out the window as they were having an affair and she was a married woman, which I thought was wrong. She should have left her husband if she wasn't happy before having an affair. Ralph Fiennes played the part of the Count well, I preferred the parts where the nurse was taking care of him and it showed how caring a nurse is to her patient. I would recommend this movie, but fast forward the nude scenes.

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