'History Is a Nightmare from which I Am Trying to Awake'

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2011)

The quotation from Joyce's Stephen Dedalus came to mind while watching this movie about a handful of people living through the nightmare of World War II. The drama in this movie arises from the conflict between the personal and the political, between mass movement driven by global forces and the deeply personal matters of love, sex, friendship, and loyalty. While The English Patient is epic in scope, the story never wanders from its focus on this handful of individuals--a testimony to skillful writing and direction.
As often happens, sex and romantic love are subversive forces. In a scene in which a gathering of British troops celebrate Christmas and sing Silent Night and God Save the Queen, only one thin wall separates their piety from the passionate and adulterous lovemaking of Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas.
The things that matter in politics and history are seen as labels. Ralph Fiennes plays a Hungarian count (though one who seemingly knows every American pop song ever written) yet is identified as "the English patient." Eventually the English come to believe he is German and imprison him. When he escapes and encounters German forces, he gives them his maps (thereby enabling them to infiltrate the British in Cairo and eventually attack them) out of desperation to save his lover. His loyalty to her is all that matters to him. Ultimately he is shot by Germans who think he is English.
It is a marvelous film, beautifully acted, written, directed, and photographed.