A good movie, but not that good

Rating: Null/10 (14 April 2002)

For some reason I remember seeing a lot of ads for this movie when it first came out, and though at the time of its release I failed to see it, I was always curious as to what it was. Now I can't even remember what the other best picture nominees were that year, but in recent years I've begun to lose faith in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, what with Shakespeare in Love, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind all winning. I guess I wanted to see if The English Patient fit more with those movies, or if it was really deserving of the award, of all of its awards, like Schindler's List.
Usually I'm skeptical of romances--being a guy, I guess I can kind of see why. One of the movie's I enjoy watching most with my friends is Commando, so you can see why a romance would not fit with the macho stereotype in which I locate myself. There have been some good romances, to be sure. I think the last really great romance I saw was Leaving Las Vegas, but that's too much of a downer.
Overall, The English Patient is a good movie, by some standards I would say it is a very good movie. There are a lot of elements that come together to make it very enjoyable to watch. For instance, the cinematography of the Egyptian desert is breathtaking, especially when the Ralph Fiennes character has to walk back to Cairo to save Katharine. Another element I found very affecting was the music--again look at the aforementioned scene. Also, the Willem Dafoe character is very good--any character that sets out to get revenge but is not corrupted by it is a pretty good character. All of these things make it nice to watch, but I can't say that it makes it a truly great movie.
For one thing, there are perhaps too many romances. I can deal with one, but for Hannah to be continually plagued with ill-fated romances is asking too much from the audience--we've already got one to focus on. Although, I think I was more convinced by the romance between her and the Indian bomb expert than by the Ralph Fiennes-Kristin Scott Thomas romance. For the latter, it is hard for me to understand, and again this may be because I'm a guy, but the man Katharine is already married to is not a bad guy, not a bad guy at all. And instead of him, she's attracted to the reclusive Ralph Fiennes, who becomes jealous of her and makes of fool of himself. Am I supposed to feel sorry for her. She's the one who left the good guy for the idiot--although the idiot does end up really loving her very deeply.
I guess it's a pretty good movie, but see for yourself. It's just hard to get into a romance when its one that comes at the expense of a nice guy.