Excellent film in terms of drama and romance

Rating: 8/10 (7 March 2015)

The almost three-hour-long "The English Patient" was the big winner at the 1997 Academy Awards scoring wins in no less than nine categories (maybe a bit too much even if I liked the film) despite coming short in Screenplay, Lead Actor and Lead Actress. However, the stunning Juliette Binoche surprisingly defeated Lauren Bacall in the supporting actress category. The film is almost 20 years old now and has aged pretty nicely. It's still a very good movie. Even if it plays during times of war, this is really just the setting. There are no long scenes of significant battles. It is much more about the (love) relationships of the central characters during these difficult times. Admittedly, the impact of war on these is very crucial.
In flashbacks we find out about Ralph Fiennes' character's fate while in the now, it is all about Juliette Binoche's character. That is also why her classification as a supporting character is slightly odd in the face of Scott Thomas playing a lead character. The movie has quite a few very dramatic and tense scenes. The highlight is probably the defusing of the big bomb by the Binoche's character's love interest in this movie. Edge-of-seat stuff with the loud noise approaching and I really wondered is he gonna survive it or is a catastrophe about to happen. Watch for yourself. Willem Dafoe was as good as always and he played once again a character where you can never be sure if he is good or bad and of course it is, as always with him, no clean black or white, but something in-between. All about shades. His questioning was also one of the most dramatic scenes of the film and almost physically painful to watch. There is also a parallel between his fate and the fate of Fiennes' character. Both are questioned and suspected of working for enemy forces, but while Dafoe's character fears his own death, Fiennes' character only fears the death of Kristin Scott Thomas' character.
This film was a breakthrough for many of the actors involved: Firth (unlikeable for once), Binoche and Fiennes to mention only a few, but also for many of the crew members who won Oscars for their work here. This movie is also quite an achievement in terms of technical aspects. Visually, it is great to watch and the sound work is effective as well. It is really difficult to pick a favorite scene, but as I mentioned some of the dramatically effective scenes already, I also want to name the church scene with Binoche and Naveen Andrews. Very very beautiful and so harmonic. Quite a joy to watch.
I highly recommend watching this movie directed and written by Anthony Minghella based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje. It has great emotional impact. Maybe, it is the film that comes closest to a description as a modern "Lawrence of Arabia".