Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 10-July-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

The English Patient (1996)

Of the many sweeping epics produced by Hollywood over the past 80 years, few have the power to captivate like "The English Patient." This is the kind of larger-than-life picture which prompts people to say, "They don't make them like that anymore!" as they linger in their seats trying to prolong the effect while the credits are rolling. At once gorgeous and tragic, elegant and extreme, it whispers a truth that seems important to remember.

The main theme of "The English Patient" is possession. The story unfolds against the backdrop of World War II, a time when nations sought to expand or maintain their boundaries by spilling blood for coveted land. The title character, Count Almásy, is not English but Hungarian, and he's played to perfection by Ralph Fiennes. Early on, he notes that "If you could explore from the air, life would be very simple;" i.e., that one could best appreciate the beauty and majesty of the world without the obscuring influence of borders. His comment foreshadows the personal anguish he's about to endure, in which the concept of ownership finds its most vehement expression in love.

While working on a research expedition in Egypt, Almásy is stymied by the appearance of Katherine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas), the wife of one of his British colleagues. She is poised and vivacious where he is awkward and withdrawn, but before long they succumb to an irresistible attraction. Against his nature and in defiance of her marriage, he lays claim to her body and soul. Their passion is absolute and all-encompassing (fitting madness for the exotic locale), and, like war, it ravages everything in its path.

As with all great romances, the movie accepts that a love of such intensity recognizes neither rules nor boundaries (perhaps not even death), but it doesn't ignore or excuse its destructive power. A parallel storyline follows Almásy after he's shot down in North Africa, conveyed to an Allied mobile hospital in Italy, and taken under the wing of a kindly nurse named Hana (Juliette Binoche). Hana has troubles of the heart as well, but in her case it's because she has so much love to give and feels the losses of the war too deeply. Through her relationship with the patient and a minesweeper with whom she starts a tentative affair (Naveen Andrews), she learns that sustainable love involves letting go — a lesson which Katherine's husband and lover fatally failed (or were unable) to understand.

Director/screenwriter Anthony Minghella amply indulges in the vivid settings, historical flavors, and grand passions that usually characterize an epic film (and, presumably, elevated Michael Ondaatje's novel), and his Oscar-winning vision is given wings by Gabriel Yared's breathtaking score. Whenever I listen to the soundtrack, I am instantly transported to a desert long ago where two people shared the most intimate connection and the most devastating heartbreak. Such is the power of "The English Patient," which makes an indelible impression of lives carried out on a sublimely insupportable scale.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.