An Old Time Epic Made in the Present

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2000)

What swept viewers off their feet about this film is the way it is made like so many other great epics of the golden age of Hollywood. However, this film is so ambitious it nearly collapses under its own weight. Anthony Minghella's tight direction and Juliette Binoche's Oscar-winning performance are the main factors that keep the film afloat. The film takes place in 1944 but flashes back to the late 1930s and to a plane being shot down. The only survivor of the plane, a burned pilot only known as "The English Patient", tells his story to a French-Canadian nurse played by Binoche. At times the flashbacks become tedious and Binoche saves the film on more than one occasion. Ralph Fiennes probably has his best performance to date, but Kristin Scott Thomas's character never engrossed me the way the film makers had wished. Willem Dafoe's quiet performance is almost as dynamic and dark as Fiennes's, in spite of his limited screen time. This film won nine Oscars in 1996. I cannot complain about this film winning the Best Picture but it will not likely survive the years as well as "Fargo", which was probably the best overall film from that year. 4.5 out of 5 stars.