The English Patient-Movie Review

The Second World War has been the inspiration for many movies, but only a few can be considered extraordinary. An extraordinary movie is a movie that has wonderful character development, and an original and captivating plot. The main reason why many movies of this genre are not extraordinary is that though many have interesting characters and plots but they lack complexity in both. Produced in 1996, The English Patient has the most intriguing protagonist of them all. Shrouded in mystery, Count Almasey’s story is the movie itself, taking the audience between two times, each scene beautifully depicted, making the audience blindly follow the progression of the movie, hoping that all will end well. In this way, both of the conditions of an extraordinary movie are met, showing that The English Patient is a remarkable masterpiece.

Count Almasey seems to have no recollection of his past after his plane is shot down by Germans. The audience is then introduced to the unique progression of the story, a back and forth between the past and present of Count Almasey. When Carvaggio asks if Count Almasey knows of the name “Moose”, the audience is brought to a flashback where Caravaggio’s real character is introduced, as a British spy with the codename “Moose”. This kind of development in this movie is so unique that it stands above the rest in originality, as far as the plots go. In fact, the plot also has another feature that allows it to completely encompass all the criteria of having a plot. Instead of being linear, as many movies are, this movie was circular; it began in the desert, with one scene, and ended with the same one. The meaning, however, was completely different- the intimacy between the audience and Almasey had grown, and a new understanding of the situation provided a whole new scenario.

But originality is not the only advantage this developmental pattern has. By only giving small portions of his memory to the audience at a time, the viewers are left on edge, always wondering what will happen next. The climax scene is probably the best example of this. When Carvaggio accuses Almasey for being a spy in the present, the audience is left to wonder whether or not he was a spy, until they see the flashback of how desperate Almasey was to save Katherine which proves otherwise. This plot twist also introduces to us a unique type of character development, not found in many movies in its genre, or time; the antihero. Characters are often called antiheros when they are seen as the protagonist, but then are introduced to a major flaw in their “perfect” nature. This kind of fallibility makes the character more human, easier to sympathize with, and easier to understand. By doing so, the story is not something that seems like fiction, rather, it can be seen as a melancholy story from which the audience can choose what to take.

Though some might say that the movie is overly complex, and it is only an overplayed romance, these qualities are what actually make the movie great. The combination of many genres- romance, war, and mystery- all combined into one plot make for a complex plot that is easy enough to follow, but complicated enough to provide the audience with mysteries. The situation may be called unrealistic by some, but the character’s flaws are so real that the actions that followed seem to flow with human nature. It is obvious with these two things superbly executed, The English Patient is very deserving of the 9 awards it has received.

-Ashwin Nagaraj