10/05/2024
What can I say? I am at a loss of words to explain my overwhelming emotions just by witnessing this dramatic love story torn apart by world war. It's just that Ralph Fiennes captivates you with his daunting and intense screen presence right from the beginning of the first take.
'The English Patient' directed by Anthony Minghella adapted from the novel of the same name novel by Michael Ondaatje, a Canadian author.
The movie is based on World War II where a rather unconventional love story takes place in Cairo. Almacy ( Ralph Fiennes) and Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas) fall in love among men preparing world maps during the war.
Katherine is married to Geoffrey (Colin Firth who doesn't fail to impress as a scarred lover and her husband). While he is busy jotting world maps, Katherine falls for Almacy but as hate would have it, Geoffrey kills his wife by crashing the plane in the desert.
Katherine is beautiful. Aged so gracefully into the onscreen Anna Vantour in Confessions of a shopaholic.
What wins here is the deeply intelligent makeup that suits the characters caught in war perfectly and precisely. The direction, although the author was involved with the director for the screenplay, I honestly felt they could have explained the war a little more clearly. The direction is fast while filming the war scenes. The costumes and aesthetics of the film want to make you dive deep into the movie more. These elements like the unraveling of the love story in flashbacks by the dying Ralph recuperating in a monestry taken in by a nurse Hanna (Juliette Binoche who won the golden globe for her supporting role in the film).
I was hesitant at first to review this movie at all because Harvey Weinstein is one of the producers of the film and when I read the credits, the unnecessary nudity of Hanna which the screenplay could do without explains it could be Harvey. However, the film overpowers his Arabic influence on the movie as it moves in synchronised events that lead upto the end of the love story.
There are two shots in the movie that you can simply not miss and want to watch this one is when both times, towards the end, when Ralph Fiennes carries Katherine out of the cave in the desert. The way he cries at the loss of his lover is painful and mesmerising. The actor outdoes his performance there. You fall in love with his character at that minute.
Another thing about this movie that will always stay with me is, " There is no lie in war. There is lies in peace." Apart from that, the dialogues could do better than what they are. There is this track 'Szarelem' that when you listen to, it has the power to transport you into a state of static thoughts.
All in all a larger than life Hollywood film acing commercial box office success.
Watch 'The English Patient' on Netflix
