The English Patient (Special Edition) [1996] | ![The English Patient (Special Edition) [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41IbnnKwfmL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Anthony Minghella
Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Julian Wadham, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Category: DVD
List Price: £22.99
Buy New: £4.21
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 980
Format: Pal, Special Edition
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 155 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5017188815987
ASIN: B00073I8L8
Theatrical Release Date: 1996
Release Date: February 21, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Great Book translated into a classic movie June 2, 2008
Brendan O. Clarke (Edinburgh)
For those who have forgotten the depth of romance and passion that the movies are capable of conveying, English Director Anthony Minghella's The English Patient can remedy the situation. This is the most unabashed and powerful love story or recent years, using flawless performances, intelligent dialogue, crisp camera work, and loaded glances to convey a level of emotional connection that many similar films miss.
Is The English Patient melodramatic? Of course, but it's the sort of finely-honed melodrama that embraces viewers rather than smothering them. And the movie never resorts to cheap, manipulative tactics. This well-crafted story, brought to the screen with great care by Anthony Minghella (Truly, Madly, Deeply; Talented Mr Ripley) and based on the prize-winning novel by Michael Ondaatje, serves up the love of Almasy (Fiennes) and Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas) in a way that is simultaneously epic and intimate.
The English Patient has an elliptical structure, beginning with the same scene that it ends with. In between, it moves several years into the future, and even further into the past. The opening sequence, which takes place during World War II, shows a British plane being shot down over the North African desert. The pilot, a Hungarian count named Laszlo Almasy, is badly burned in the ensuing crash. Years later, in 1944 Italy, we meet him again. Although his outward injuries have healed, leaving his features scarred beyond recognition, he is dying. He has also supposedly lost his memory. Hana (Juliette Binoche), the Canadian nurse who cares for him, takes him to an isolated, abandoned church to allow him to die in peace. There, injecting him with morphine and reading to him from his beloved volume of Herodotus, Hana seeks to seeks to stimulate his memories. Meanwhile, others arrive at the church -- a mysterious, crippled war veteran named Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), who has a hidden agenda, and a pair of bomb experts, the British Sgt. Hardy (Kevin Whately) and his Sikh superior, Kip (Naveen Andrews), who becomes Hana's lover.
Eventually, through dreams and waking flashbacks, Almasy's memories come flooding back, although Caravaggio asserts that he hasn't really forgotten anything -- he just wants to forget. The story then flip-flops between the present and a period during the late-'30s and early- '40s, when Almasy is part of a British map-making effort surveying the Sahara. It's then that he meets Katharine Clifton, the wife of a good-natured pilot (Colin Firth) who is helping with the project. Almasy and Katharine fall for each other, and the stage is set for a classic exploration of love and betrayal set against the dangerous background of Nazi aggression.
Kristen Scott Thomas is luminous as Katharine, effortlessly conveying to the audience the energy and zest for life that Almasy finds irresistible. Together, these two lovers are hotter than the desert heat that simmers around them.
Juliette Binoche won an academy award as Hana, although her character is poorly developed. Willem Dafoe plays the kind of mysterious role he has become accustomed to (primarily because he does it so well).
The English Patient is the sort of intelligent, epic love story that seems so rare these days. There's something about this film that lingers long after the end credits have rolled -- a desire to re- experience all the feelings generated by the movie, perhaps. One of the reasons for The English Patient's power is that it strikes universal chords. This motion picture is yet another example of how the patience of movie-goers, after being sorely tried during the first eight mediocre months of 1996, is being rewarded by a surge of excellent end-of-the-year releases.
The dvd is crammed with extras, and the OST by M.Jarre is the best soundtrack i have ever heard.
A film that takes you on a journey... May 19, 2008
Maverick (England)
I first watched this film about a year and a half ago to two years ago on Channel 4. At first, I watched it just for something to watch. After about the first 30 minutes of the film I was still unsure whether to commit to watching the entire film. However, I did.
After finishing the film I wasn't overly impressed. Sure, I enjoyed it quite a lot. But it hadn't made a huge impression on me. The next day I got up and if I recall correctly my brother whom had went to bed as the movie was starting the previous night asked me if I had enjoyed the film. To which I responded "Yeah, it was pretty good"
Something strange happened in the following weeks, months and years? Possibly 2 years since I first watched it. I'm still unsure. Anyway, this strange thing slowly became apparent to me. It was a very odd feeling that I didn't notice when watching the film but it was definitely there. To put it plainly, the film took me on a journey. A very personal journey to be exact.
It's rare. There aren't many movies that you can say REALLY took you on a personal journey. Out of the hundreds upon hundreds of movies I've seen over the course of my life so far there are maybe about 3? About that anyway... That I can say took me on a personal journey. Most films take you somewhere, somehow. But not many of them capture your "heart" as such. This movie did this for me and I'm very glad that I experienced it when I did.
Since I first watched it I always wanted to get this film on dvd. I raved about it for months to my brother, always strongly recommending for him to see it. Hopefully I didn't build it up too much and therefore somehow damage the experience for him when he saw it the other day.
Anyway, if you have never seen this film and enjoy movies that really pull you in close then this is the one for you.
I would advise watching this movie alone first time around. I find it helps you to become more involved in a film.
On this DVD...
As far as this specific DVD, it's nice. Looks nice, outer cardboard box on the dvd box. Special features are pretty good. There is an hour documentary on the making of the film, with cast interviews, on set preparation before shooting scenes which includes the director talking to the actors and discussing how to do the scene etc... I love seeing what goes on behind the scenes and this is pretty good for that sort of stuff. However, the bonus material is nothing special. It's neither bad or great. It's enjoyable in parts, interesting in parts. Definitely worth watching for a fan of the film though.
You don't need to be English, but you do need to be patient with this film February 2, 2008
Daniel Mitchell (UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an outstanding film. Comparisons with David Lean films such as Dr Zhivago are fully justified. The book, in addition, is supernal and took me by surprise - being so transcendent and yet written in the wake of the soulless 1980s.
The stunning soundtrack by Gabriel Yared is every much a part of the film, as in the case of Maurice Jarre's efforts in Zhivago. Yared's marriage of Bach with folk themes represents superb balance that serves its purpose without being pretentious.
Many complain of the prolix lengthiness of the English Patient. I'm afraid I can't sit through five minutes of Coronation Street without entering a state of despair and narcosis, so I guess that patience is a subjective thing.
OVER THE DESERT, IN AN ENGLISH PLANE FLYING ON GERMAN GASOLINE... November 10, 2007
NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in Orbit)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
There is a scene in the movie, where Ralph Fiennes carries the wounded Kristin Scott Thomas into a desert cave. Over the threshold, draped in white he promises to always protect her. There were no priests, no family, no friends, no guests - yet, to me this is one of the most beautiful wedding scenes ever captured on film.
Love and Betrayal. God and Country. Courage and Frailty. The whole range of Human Condition is captured on a canvas of infinite sands and beige dreams.
This is a breathtaking film that got the Oscar acclaim it deserved. A Modern Classic - people of coming generations will talk of this film the same way we talk about CASABLANKA.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
 YAWN FROM START TO FINISH September 19, 2007
Nevs (uk)
3 out of 28 found this review helpful
I haven't been this bored before. If i had an offer to stand in a bucket of jellied eels or watch this film twice, i would have to opt for the eels.
The story was so depressing it should never be shown near Beachy Head.
The film is set during the war and is difficult to follow from the beginning. DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS ONE.
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