The English Patient (1996)

Written and Directed by Anthony Minghella
Based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje

Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***

Seeing a movie inundated with flashbacks often gives me trouble. If a movie is so full of the flashbacks, why flash back at all? Why not just show the movie "in that time"? Usually (or hopefully), there is a purpose to the "present" scenes. Normally, it is to see the aftermath of the events "reviewed". Often, there is a parallel story in the present. Movies that miss the "present point" often seem manipulative or at the very least calculating. A flashback is a dangerous plot device because it can seem heavy-handed. Anthony Minghella dabbles with this territory somewhat in his critically acclaimed film based on Ondaatje's maze of a novel. But he fortunately is steered back to these important purposes. The story of a flashback must be the present.

At the beginning of the film, we see a desert with a plane flying over it. Its shadow hugs the wavy sand dunes almost earnestly. The plane is shot at, and the pilot appears to be severely injured. He is indeed. He is badly burned, almost to the point where it is amazing to see him alive at all. But we never see the other passenger after the plane is shot at. She is a woman. Her eyes are closed, but she has a serene look.

The present story is that of the man's last days. He is very ill from his injuries and is dying. He is a passenger in a hospital convoy in war-torn Italy (near the end of World War II). He has grown too ill to be moved further. His nurse is Hana (Juliette Binoche), a pleasant, compassionate woman who cares for him as if her life depends on it. She is mentally wounded like he is physically. Many of her friends in the war have been killed. She has grown to believe that the people she loves are cursed to die. This is how the two bond. The patient (Ralph Fiennes) suffers from amnesia, but we sense it is more of a repression. He remembers and is doomed to wallow in his memories for the rest of his shortened life.

His memories flood back from a book, the writings/historical passages of Herodotus. The book is full of personal drawings and writings. And we are shown his memories, which often touch upon these historical souvenirs. He is in Egypt pre-World War II. He meets a woman by the name of Katharine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas). She is married to Geoffrey (Colin Firth) but not happily so. The patient, whose name is Almasy, is taken by her. She returns his love in a few touching scenes, one involving Almasy following her to her home, one involving a sandstorm's aftermath, and another involving Katharine's storytelling ability. This is the romance portion of the story, actually quite standard despite the rather unusual methods of storytelling and the ominous backdrop. Of course, this ominous backdrop is more than just historically accurate. It is metaphorical and a literary foreshadow.

Minghella does not pretend to give this story a hopeful future. Instead, he shows a relationship whose destiny is threatened by the times and doomed by circumstances. It is here we meet many of the supporting characters, most of whom in some way provide or create the events that would eventually lead to the demise of their relationship. It is pointless to summarize or to speculate on the details of these events, mainly because of the complex and numerous circumstances/situations involved in the plot's evolution. What is important here is that the world is bigger than the characters living in it. There is an air of Casablanca in these passages, but the tone is darker, less hopeful, less heroic.

Minghella paints these scenes with empty landscapes of the African deserts. Many of his scenes are reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia, probably not accidentally. The film echoes the rise and fall of the relationship much like David Lean tells the rise and fall of T.E. Lawrence.

I never fully caught on to the film's hype. I found the film to be not very original. The romance, while definitely full of chemistry, still seemed somewhat tired. I blame this a bit on the methodical storytelling in the film, which at times seemed pedantic and melodramatic. I also blame this on the pacing, which seemed somewhat rushed to tell the rise to the peak of their romance and somewhat long-winded to tell the fall. The fault is not with the actors. Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas are solid; many of their actions/reactions are shown rather than spoken.

The present scenes also contain this subtlety, with an impressive performance by Binoche. Hana meets an explosives expert named Kip (Naveen Andrews), who constantly risks his life for the safety of the convoy by checking/re-checking and then deactivating explosives and mines. Kip's compassion for life is a nice refresher from Almasy's doomed prospects. Almasy seems to grasp at death but cannot quite find it. Hana seems like his angel, the one who will make this transition somewhat easier to bear.

I was never quite sold on Willem Dafoe's character, which seems out of place and somewhat unnecessary. Dafoe plays David Caravaggio, who pops into the patient's location somewhat suspiciously. His motives and memories are revealed, but they seem woefully unimportant compared to the stories/heartaches of Hana and Almasy. The events that have forever changed Caravaggio's life do not seem to parallel, complement, or contradict the stories of Hana and Almasy. They only seem to add overwhelming tone. When looking back at the film, I wonder at this character's purpose and still have not convinced myself of an answer.

Nevertheless, The English Patient succeeds in most aspects given its emotional methods of storytelling and its complex characters and situations. The movie is a modern tragedy with historically significant methods of storytelling. There are echoes of Romeo and Juliet in the final half hour of the film. For it seems that a love fully realized in both stories only leads to the doom of the love, and of the characters loving. There is truth to this form of storytelling, and there is a compelling sense of admiration and sadness to it. Mysteries surround us, as they surround the characters of the film. But in the end, the only thing left is love lost.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Directed by Nora Ephron
Screenplay by Nora Ephron and Davis S. Ward and Jeff Arch
Story by Jeff Arch

Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***

Sleepless in Seattle is a movie where you recognize all of the characters, know all the plot points, predict all the events, and yet still get caught up in the heart. This is a movie full of cliches, stereotypes, "moments", and entanglements. But I don't care. The film has such good heart and warm feelings that even an old stick in the mud like me gives a damn. This is how all chick flicks should be.

Perhaps part of the charm in the movie is its cast, which is perfect. Tom Hanks plays a newly widowed man named Sam. He has a young son named Jonah (Ross Malinger). He lived in Chicago before his wife Maggie (Carey Lowell) dies. He moves to Seattle for a change of scenery, so he doesn't have to be reminded of her wherever he goes. Meanwhile, Annie (Meg Ryan) lives at the opposite end of the US. She is engaged to Walter (Bill Pullman). Walter has quirks, a lot of them. His allergies are at the top, though. He's allergic to everything. Maybe we're supposed to be allergic to him. Probably. Annie introduces Walter to her family. There's a silent discomfort from the family. We can sense it in Annie too. The relationship feels comfortable but not right.

Walter is given the stereotypical character traits that make him the "unwanted guy". Sam, meanwhile, seems perfect. He's quiet, smart, compassionate, and warm. He loves his son. And Jonah loves his father. Jonah's the perfect kid, who only wants his father to be happy. He wants a mother, but he wants his father to have a wife more. So much that he calls a radio talk show. You know the type. A sassy woman robotically talking through the caller's problems. And she gives each character a distinctive, yet anonymous, name full of assonance or alliteration. "Depressed in Denver", or well, "Sleepless in Seattle". That's Sam, you see.

Yes, because Jonah is asked to put Sam on the phone. And the radio host asks Sam to describe his wife. And Tom Hanks sells me here. He says it with such a melancholy admiration that you want to cry right with Meg Ryan, whose Annie just happens to be listening to a radio station carrying the program.

Annie becomes obsessed and must find Sam. She goes to Seattle to seek him out (after, of course, investigating where exactly he lived, what exactly he does, etc.) without Walter's knowledge. They bump into each other at the airport. You see, Sam is now dating someone with a laugh "like a hyena", Jonah says. She is taking off, and Annie is arriving. Sam stops in wondrous love at first sight. But, of course, they don't know each other.

They meet again at a road. They almost have a conversation, but a semi almost runs Annie down. And that is that.

The movie parallels An Affair to Remember in many ways. Clips of the film are seen throughout. (Annie loves the film.) So she writes to Sam and Jonah asking them to meet her in New York City on Valentine's Day atop the Empire State Building. Sam refuses, but Jonah cleverly gets a ticket and goes himself. Sam finds out and flies after him. Annie, meanwhile, is to meet Walter for dinner in New York City that night. She lets him down.

But here's why the movie sells me. Annie breaks up with Walter nicely, and the film makes Walter a winner in the end. The movie gives him backbone, lets him take it like a man. "Are you all right?" she asks. "Yeah," he says. It's as if Walter knows too. The movie could have sold out here, but instead, Walter doesn't seem evil or twisted or just plain bad in any way. The filmmakers win it with this scene.

And so you can imagine how the rest of the film goes, so I won't go further. But, as I said long before now, the charm of Sleepless in Seattle is with the cast. Bill Pullman makes Walter a quirky "good" bad guy. Meg Ryan makes Annie infinitely likable. Tom Hanks gives Sam a quiet fire that makes his character immediately empathizable. And Ross Malinger plays Jonah as a smart kid, not a token kid. It's the cast that gives the movie some color, and it's the heart that gives Sleepless in Seattle some momentum. While in no way original, at least the filmmakers know what a good movie is.