Review of The English Patient (1996) by Chris W — 27 Aug 2011

Ooooh, what have we here? It's a big, sweeping romantic epic rooted in history that's also a literary adaptation (which doesn't surprise me). I can see why this won so damn many Oscars (among other awards).

In all seriousness though, I need to be honest. This type of film isn't really my thing, but I am able to recognize when something is (mostly) well made when I see it. That is the case here. I enjpyed some of this film, and it's good in palces, but not overall. I understand that it's Oscar bait, and the nominations (and some of the wins) were deserved, but I think a far stronger film overall (Fargo) should have taken the top prize.

All of the technical aspects are well done, and the acting (by a good cast) is okay, but nothing truly amazing. The main issues I have are that the story isn't extremely compelling or original, the film is over long and tedious, and rather boring. Tighten this sucker up, and maybe restructure it, and I might have a better opinion of this thing.

Also, I liked the historical aspects of the movie a lot more. It should have been about the characters in the context of history instead of a doomed love story. The non-love stuff was the most interesting. With the structure, this film does lots of skipping between different time periods. Nothing wrong with that, but I think it might have been better to tell this one in a more straightforward way. Also, I noticed that many films (especially ones that have been nominated for or won major awards) tend to use this structure. It's like it is a requirement for these types of epic films or something. It's odd.

Look, I didn't hate this film, and I do admire it for being the type of film it is, especially since this sort of thing isn't done too often anymore (and not all that well it seems). I just think it's overblown and overrated.