The English Patient: Anthony Minghella

I once heard somebody say that Anthony Minghella's The English Patient was the single most boring film they had ever seen in a theater. This told me two very important things. First, it meant that I needed to cancel that Béla Tarr Fan Club membership that I got him for his upcoming birthday. Second, it revealed that he did not have much patience when it comes to the cinema. I've seen action movies with less action than The English Patient. And, yes, I know that it has developed a reputation over the years as one of the weaker films to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture. But I don't care. I thought that The English Patient was a very good film. Told largely in flashback, the film tells the story of the whirlwind romance between a Hungarian cartographer and an English aristocrat on the eve of World War Two. After a tragic accident leaves the woman dead and the Hungarian badly burned, he recounts his story to a French-Canadian nurse in an abandoned Italian monastery during the last days of the war. While I found the film very entertaining and effective, I can easily understand the frustration that it could have caused for many viewers. I don't really understand the necessity of framing the entire central romance as a series of flashbacks, thereby leaving the film vulnerable to countless side plots, supporting characters, and other distractions. The film is easily an hour longer then it should have been and the narrative occasionally loses its focus and direction. But is it boring? I don't think so. Long-winded? Sure. But not boring.

8/10