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The English Patient
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anthony Minghella
Screenplay by	Anthony Minghella
Produced by	Saul Zaentz
Starring	Ralph Fiennes Juliette Binoche Willem Dafoe Kristin Scott Thomas
Cinematography	John Seale
Edited by	Walter Murch
Music by	Gabriel Yared
Production companies	Miramax Films Tiger Moth Productions
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date	November 15, 1996 (1996-11-15)
Running time	162 minutes
Countries	United States United Kingdom
Languages	English German Italian Arabic Hungarian
Budget	$27 million
Box office	$231,976,425

The English Patient (1996) is a romantic drama directed by Anthony Minghella from his own script based on the novel of the same name by Michael Ondaatje and produced by Saul Zaentz.

The film's invocation of fate, romance, and tragedy unfolds through the story of a burn victim in World War II Italy, a once dashing archaeologist whose sacrifices to save the woman he loves spell his end.

Plot

In the final days of the Italian Campaign of World War II, Hana, a French-Canadian nurse in a bombed Italian monastery looks after a critically burned man who speaks English but refuses to reveal even his name.

David Caravaggio, a Canadian Intelligence Corps operative ostensibly trying to disarm the partisans, arrives with bandaged hands and an acute interest in both the morphine supply at the monastery and the English patient's past.

Hana starts a romance with Kip, a Sikh sapper in the British Army defusing bombs, despite the "curse" she believes she casts on those close to her.

In the late 1930s, the Hungarian cartographer Count László de Almásy maps the Sahara as a co-leader of a Royal Geographical Society archeological and surveying expedition in Egypt and Libya with the Englishman Peter Madox. They are academics at heart and naïve about the brewing war. Their expedition is financed by a British couple, Geoffrey and Katherine Clifton. He is often away mapping; Katherine and Almásy fall in love. Their intense romance founders on her guilt and his jealousy.

In the months before the war, the Count studies an ancient Saharan site, the Cave of Swimmers, until a British order stops work in the camp at the onset of fighting. Madox secretes his Tiger Moth at Kufra oasis before the two go their separate ways.

Caravaggio was a professional thief; he lost his thumbs in an interrogation by a German Army officer and has avenged himself with two of the men he holds responsible. Only Almásy remains and now he accuses the English patient of being the Count and betraying the British. The burn victim insists he has it backwards: he was betrayed by the British.

When Geoffrey discovers the affair, he lures Katherine aboard their plane and pilots it into the camp in a crash aimed at the Count. He is killed instantly, she is seriously injured, but Almásy only narrowly hit. He takes her to the cave, leaving her with provisions, and begins a three-day walk for help. Dazed and dehydrated, he stumbles into British-held El Tag and feebly attempts to explain his non-British name and Katherine's plight. Under questioning, he loses his temper, is detained and transported in chains on a train north to Benghazi. He escapes behind German lines and trades the British maps to them for gasoline. He flies the Tiger Moth to the cave, but is too late.

He attempts to return Katherine's body but a German anti-aircraft battery shoots them down. Her body is not recovered; he is horribly burned and rescued by Bedouin.

"I had the wrong name," the English patient explains. Carvaggio is ready to forgive. Kip thwarts death defusing a bomb on the last day of the war. Hana's hope in love is rekindled. She cannot refuse Almásy's wish for a fatal dose of morphine. She leaves for north of Florence, Kip's new post.

Cast

Themes

Archaeology

The study of a prehistoric Saharan cave with "swimming figures" (Cave of Swimmers") was made by Hungarian László Almásy (October 1933) during the Leo Frobenius expedition. The location was aided with an airplane owned by an expedition member. This site is portrayed in both Ondaatje's novel and Minghella's film. If the storyline of the film was the same as real life then it would appear to be that the reference made by Katherine of being made aware of Almásy's monograph would be this site but of course that is the quandary of real life versus fiction.

Some archaeology was conducted during World War II in Egypt and lead to the significant Tanis find with intrinsic, artistic and cultural value similar to others but due to the time of its finding it has not been as made well known as Tutankhamen. The deprivations caused by World War II do not support that as wide-scale archaeology continued during World War II as has previously or after. But it does have to be acknowledged the use of World War II aerial photography being used to evaluate the study potential of sites, particularly the large ones.

Intelligence Gathering And Espionage

These activities are an underlying theme and interest that is inseparable from the story of this film and the source of its adaptation. You may want to get a better understanding of the history by consulting, among others: Canadian Intelligence Corps; and Long Range Desert Group.

Production

Saul Zaentz made known his wish to work with Anthony Minghella after he saw the director's film Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990); Minghella brought this project to the producer's attention. Michael Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan-born Canadian, worked closely with the filmmakers. The film was shot on location in Tunisia and Italy. with a production budget of $31 million.

Two types of plane are used in the film. The De Havilland D.H.82 Tiger Moth appears first when the Count attempts returning Katherine's dead body for interment in the garden of her English seacoast home, a wish she expressed in his Hiroditus histories when she was incapacitated and secreted in the Cave. The plane had been hidden at the Oasis by Peter Maddox, to whom it belonged, following when the British government ordered that by May 1939 all expeditions would stop and Madox and Almasy planned to leave camp. The Clifton's arrived camp aboard a Boeing-Stearman Model 75, purported their own when in fact it was British Government property. Both are biplanes; an aircraft with two main supporting surfaces (wings) usually placed one above the other. They both use fueled that is more characteristic of gasoline than any type of jet fuel. The on-screen registration numbers on each plane were fictitious. The camp crash scene was made with a .5 scale model. Both were commonly used in pilot training and later used extensively in dusting crops in the years after World War II when decommissioned by the governments.

The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film (2002), by Michael Ondaatje is based on the conversations between the author and film editor. Murch, with a career that already included complex works like the Godfather trilogy, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now, dreaded the task of editing the film with multiple flashbacks and time frames, but once he began the possibilities became apparent, some of which took him away from the order of the original script. A reel without sound was made so scene change visuals would be consistent with the quality of the aural aspect between the two. The final cut features over 40 temporal transitions.

Reception

The film received widespread critical acclaim, was a box office success and a major award winner: victorious in 9 out of 12 nominated Academy Awards categories; 2 out of 7 nominated Golden Globe Awards categories; and 6 out of 13 nominated BAFTA Award categories.

The film has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 61 reviews, concluding. "Though it suffers from excessive length and ambition, director Minghella's adaptation of the Michael Ondaatje novel is complex, powerful, and moving." The film also has a rating of 87% on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". Chicago Sun Times critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 rating, saying "it's the kind of movie you can see twice – first for the questions, the second time for the answers." In his movie guide, Leonard Maltin rated the film 3 1/2 out of 4, calling it "A mesmerizing adaptation" of Ondaatje's novel, he concluded by calling the film "An exceptional achievement all around".

Awards And Honors

69th Academy Awards

54th Golden Globe Awards, USA

51st British Academy Film Awards (1997), UK

47th Berlin International Film Festival (1997), GD

AFI 100 Years… series of Cinematic Milestones/;BFI Top 100 British films

References

1. "THE ENGLISH PATIENT (15)". British Board of Film Classification. December 4, 1996. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
2. ^ The English Patient at Box Office Mojo
3. Marwick, Ben (2012). 'Self-image, the long view and archaeological engagement with film: an animated. World Archaeology. pp. 394–404.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
4. citation needed beyond: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000193/bio; viewed 1-26-2014.
5. http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/africa/gilf_kebir_cave_of_swimmers/index.php; viewed 1-24-2014.
6. http://www.archaeology.org/0505/abstracts/tanis.html; http://www.archaeology.org/issues/110-1311/trenches/1391-corona-spy-imagery-reveals-roman-forts-in-romania; viewed 1-24-2014.
7. "Film locations for The English Patient". Retrieved August 23, 2010.
8. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Masterful-English-Patient-3112068.php#page-1; viewed 1/24-2014.
9. ^ http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=The_English_Patient; viewed 1-24-2014.
10. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biplane; viewed 1-24-2014.
11. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/havilland_dh-82.php; http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/stearman.htm; both viewed, 1-24-2014.
12. Random House Inc.
13. http://www.powells.com/review/2002_08_31.html; viewed 1-24-2014.
14. The English Patient at Rotten Tomatoes
15. The English Patient at Metacritic
16. The English Patient :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
17. ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (March 25, 1997). "'English Patient' Dominates Oscars With Nine, Including Best Picture". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
18. ^ "The 69th Academy Awards (1997) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
19. The English Patient (1996) – Weekend Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 14, 2011; Amadeus (1994) – Weekend Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 14, 2011; Top Grossing Movies That Never Hit the Top 5 at the Box Office.
20. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic/never1.htm?page=never5&p=.htm Top Grossing Movies That Never Hit the Top 5 at the Box Office; viewed 1-24-2014.
21. "Berlinale: 1997 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
22. http://www.listal.com/list/bfis-top-100-british-films; 1-28-2014.

Further reading

• Blakesley, David (2007). "Mapping the other: The English Patient, colonial rhetoric, and cinematic representation". The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-2488-1.
• Massood, Paula J. (2005). "Defusing The English Patient". In Stam; Raengo, Alessandra (eds.). Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation. Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-23054-8.
• Minghella, Anthony (1997). The English Patient: A Screenplay by Anthony Minghella. Methuen Publishing. ISBN 0-413-71500-0.
• Thomas, Bronwen (2000). "Piecing together a mirage: Adapting The English patient for the screen". In Giddings, Robert; Sheen, Erica (eds.). The Classic Novel from Page to Screen. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-5230-0.
• Yared, Gabriel (2007). Gabriel Yared's The English Patient: A Film Score Guide. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-5910-6.

External links

• Official website
• The English Patient at IMDb
• The English Patient at Box Office Mojo
• The English Patient at Rotten Tomatoes
• The English Patient at Metacritic
• Laszlo Almásy: the real English patient

• 1996 films
• 1990s romantic drama films
• 1990s war films
• British films
• British epic films
• British romantic drama films
• American films
• American epic films
• American war films
• American romantic drama films
• English-language films
• German-language films
• Italian-language films
• Arabic-language films
• Films directed by Anthony Minghella
• Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners
• Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
• Best Picture Academy Award winners
• Films based on Canadian novels
• Films based on novels
• Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning performance
• Films set in the British Empire
• Films set in Africa
• Films set in Italy
• Films set in the 1930s
• Films set in the 1940s
• Films shot in Rome
• Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award
• Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award
• Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award
• Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award
• Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award
• Romantic epic films
• War romance films
• World War II films
• Miramax Films films