A Passion in the Desert

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 1999)

Having read all 102 comments on this film currently posted, I'm struck by the lack of basic literacy displayed by so many of the "antis," as well as their too-frequent resort to scatalogical language.
I'm very fond of Ondaatje's novel and have read Minghella's original screenplay. In that screenplay, he managed to incorporate the entire novel, in cinematic terms. Of course, it would probably have made a six-hour film! As it is, I feel he did catch most of the essense of the book; in fact there are areas where I think he improved on the original. (For example, I liked his making Katharine and Geoffrey the same age as Almasy, and making the husband more attractive.)
I've seen the film many times. I gather some of the recent commentators have seen it only on video or DVD. This is one of those films that really need to be seen on the big screen.
Still, it's not a picture for everyone -- and that's true of all movies. For me, it's a "ten."