As is so often the case, I'm very late in getting around to "The English Patient", in this case it's been a couple of decades. I recall the fanfare surrounding the movie when it was released, subsequently repeated when it was the winner of nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Told in a series of flashbacks, the story recounts the nature of an affair between Hungarian Count Laszlo de Almasy (Ralph Fiennes) and the married Englishwoman Katharine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas). Their passionate relationship ends in a double tragedy for both principals in a confluence of unrelated events, though it could be maintained just as Almasy stated in my summary line, that he was responsible for her death. One may argue the circumstances of Geoffrey Clinton's (Colin Firth) plane crash, though to my mind his attempt at murder/suicide failed only in the respect that his intended victim was the only one who survived. I can readily understand the conflicted opinions other reviewers bring to the table here. It's a difficult thing to weigh the difference between an unfaithful spouse and an affair that arises out of true love. On that score, I tend to reserve my sympathies on the side of Katharine and Almasy. Yet the story line throws in a complicated betrayal on the part of The Count, who offered his services to the Nazis in order to return to his injured lover in the desert. In that regard, I do not absolve Almasy for the courage of his convictions, even when he rationalizes that "thousands of people DID die, just different people". Evoking the grand sweep and epic proportions of "Lawrence of Arabia", the film is a haunting tale of love endured under compromising circumstances that ends unsparingly for the characters and viewer alike. The performances of all the principals are noteworthy, with a special nod to Juliette Binoche in her role as Almasy's nurse as his intricate story unfolds. To be fair, the film requires some patience, as it's nearly three hour run time will test the resolve of uncommitted viewers, though many will find their forbearance well rewarded.

The most impressive aspect of The English Patient is its devotion to the emotions, turbulence and tragedy of the time, World War II. With the world turned upside down by a war and the end of Europe's royal class, viewers are taken on a visually stunning journey of love, betrayal, constant loss and the ever-so-slow passing of the central character, Count Laszlo de Almasy, brilliantly played by Ralph Fiennes. Many reviewers term this a "reader's movie," and so it is. It's also a movie of the visual and musical arts, with scenes throughout the work stretching the bounds of fixed concepts. I often listen to the soundtrack by Gabriel Yared, with wide swaths of themes reveling in the adventures of archeologists in the Sahara and discoveries of Italian monastic art. Countering the classic themes are popular jazz and big band pieces from the 1930s and 40s, with de Almasy renowned for knowing the lyrics to every piece from the era. The characters throughout the story are classic, which weaves an enduring tableau of emotions, memories and the realization that as much as many view each era as different, there is always a sense of the retelling of stories, best stated with Casablanca's song, As Time Goes By. Lastly, there's a simple reason The English Patient earned nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Anthony Minghella: It's one of the best movies of all time. Gabriel Yared, composer and wide range of popular pieces from the 1930s and 40s.

I never saw a film where I just wanted to scream out "I AM BORED"! I don't care how many awards this boring film has won it is still a boring film. I am not a person who will love a movies because the Academy awarded it with Best Picture. That's is what they did here.In the final days of the Italian Campaign of World War II, Hana, a French-Canadian nurse working and living in a bombed-out Italian monastery, looks after a critically burned man who speaks English but cannot remember his name. They are joined by Kip, a Sikh sapper in the British Army who defuses bombs and has a love affair with Hana before leaving for Florence, and David Caravaggio, a Canadian Intelligence Corps operative who was questioned by Germans and has had his thumbs cut off during a German interrogation. Caravaggio questions the patient, who gradually reveals his past.This film could of had the same plot and been 1/2 sorter and it would have been 10x better. 20 years after it has won Best Picture it still gets me mad that this film won over "FARGO" and "Sling Blade"

Shame that the Binoche character was not more in the character of a 1930's Canadian from Montreal as most Montrealers of the era did not speak English at all and if they did, it was with a distinct French- Canadian accent. Binoche speaks French and it would have been a breeze to allow her to do it even if it was only a French accent minus the Canadian touch. Willem Dafoe could also have done a Montreal accent and why David, (English) and Carraviggio, Italian ? Where all those flashbacks really necessary? Maybe it was the producer's intent to require multiple viewings in order to get the whole story. How could anyone actually have considered Demi Moore in the K part? Nicole Kidman possibly but KST pulled it off perfectly. The casting was part of the genius of the film.