The English Patient (1996):
What’s It About?: A mysterious burn victim who is about to die (Ralph Fiennes) is taken care of by a nurse (Juliet Binoche) as World War II comes to a close. As the man recalls his life before the accident, and his love for a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas), a mysterious stranger (Willem Dafoe) shows up who has some secrets of his own.
How Good Is It?: It’s okay. It’s very elegant, although the bits of sudden violence (including a great, great airplane shot), sly humor, and credible drama make it feel at least a little like something more than overly-dramatic Oscar-bait. But even that goodwill is chiselled away bit by bit with a run time that’s about twice as long as it needs to be. There are too many characters, and too many sideplots (meaningless or not), that even though I didn’t dislike the movie inherently, I hated that I was stuck watching it for as long as I was. Even worse, it feels that long when watching it – At just over an hour into it, I was sure that there was very little story left to tell.
Was it Best Picture?: No. Hell, even before the Oscars aired, I remember Gene Siskel saying that Fargo was the better movie, but that the snobby Academy couldn’t give it to a movie like Fargo, and would award this one. He was right, of course, and the error of their ways becomes more apparent with each passing year, as Fargo remains a classic, and The English Patient has become a has-been. It’s really too bad.
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