The English Patient Blu-ray Review

• 19th Sep 2011

Anthony Minghella’s 1996 Oscar winning period drama finally finds a home format worthy of its lush visuals.

This tragic war era set love story finds Ralph Fiennes burn victim being cared for by Juliette Binoche’s nurse. Both suffering from loss and tragic pasts – we flip back in time to discover his past whilst we also toil in her present. The interweaving of the structure is a constant tugging as the audience to get then excited about what is yet to come.

Poor Colin Firth pulled the short end of the stick by having less screen time than he deserved. With his current position in the industry, fans who watch this perhaps for the first time are going to have a similar response. But this isn’t Firth’s movie. It pretty much belongs to Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. Fans of both may remember that only a few years previous to this that they had both appeared onscreen in an adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (an under-seen and appreciated film).

Fiennes was coming off the clearer glory of Spielberg’s  Schindler’s List and (the also under seen and underappreciated) Strange Days by Kathryn Bigelow. Clearly The English Patient put him on many people’s maps as a strong and classic leading dramatic Actor. From there he has had ups and downs – but currently thanks to the likes of the Harry Potter Series, Clash of the Titans films and even a return to Kathryn Bigelow in The Hurt Locker (not to mention his stage work) he is back on top. And from this film’s performance it is clear to see why. He is very recognisable by both his looks and his voice and he can command the screen when he needs to. The trouble is that he had so much to do in this film that he’s perhaps had trouble finding a role that is nearly as complex.

Kudos also need to go to the cinematography which is beautiful and as stated, looks not too bad o9n the Blu8-ray format. The extras are plentiful with two commentaries, a look at the book to screen adaptation, interviews and even a look at producer Saul Zaentz. This was all found on the DVD special edition, but still makes a decent set. Might have been nice to have it upgraded with a retrospective documentary. Either way it is still a great romantic film that doesn’t get talked about half as much as it ought to.

Steven Hurst