anthony minghella the english patient be a film that take u back to the golden year of hollywood . it be grand and impressive in scale and and yet so heartbreakingly intimate in it portrayal of human love and suffering . at the 1997 academy award and the film own the night and take home nine award from twelve nomination and the most decisive cleansweep since bernardo bertolucci the last emperor in 1988. base on canadian author michael ondaatje 1992 booker prize win novel of the same name and the english patient be a touching meditation on life and love and loss and trace the history of a critically burnt man in the aftermath of world war two . during the war and a man ( ralph fiennes ) be discover in the burning remnant of a crashed plane . with his face scar beyond recognition and and with the man seemingly suffer from amnesia and he be assume to be an allied soldier and and be simply referred to a the english patient . after the war and in the mine ridden hill of italy and a kind nurse and hana ( juliette binoche ) and who have apparently lose everybody close to her and remain in a ruined monastery to look after the die man . over time and she come to learn more and more about her english patient and who be actually reveal to be a hungarian geographer and count laszlo de almásy . rather than lose his memory in the plane crash and we learn that this scar ridden man have perhaps choose to forget his past and both to protect himself from persecution and to cure himself of the tragic memory of his past love . via numerous flashback and we learn of almásy former exploit in the sahara desert and and his romantic liaison with a married woman and katharine clifton ( kristin scott thomas ) . it certainly easy to see why the english patient be so successful at the oscar . it be such a beautiful film and blend the quiet beauty of the italian countryside with the endless golden sand of the desert . cinematographer john seale capture the landscape to perfection while not since david lean magnificent lawrence of arabia have a film show the desert with such beauty and grandeur and make particularly good use of sweep aerial shot from almásy plane . even in the film more intimate moment and excellent use of close ups and light capture the emotion of the scene and couple and of course and with the brilliant performance from all the cast member . a long time favourite actor of mine and the english patient might just contain ralph fiennes fine performance and and and consider his history include such film a schindler list and the constant gardener and this be not a complement that be to be take lightly . his count laszlo de almásy be initially a very sympathetic character and but and a we slowly learn more about his past and his likable quality be erode by his less admirable tendency towards others . ownership be a major theme of the film . when ask by katherine what he hat most and almásy reply with ownership . be own . when you leave you should forget me . however and a the relationship progress and and katherine perhaps try to distance herself from him and almásy reveals a hint of arrogance and insisting that his love for her somehow entitle him to have her whenever he like represent i want to touch you . i want the thing which be mine and which belong to me . juliette binoche and who receive an oscar for her performance here and be excellent a hana and the lonesome nurse who fear to love because of the tragedy that have always harm those close to her . after some time of care for almásy alone and she be join by a dubious canadian thief and david caravaggio ( willem dafoe ) and who lose his thumb during the war and and who suspect that it be almásy who betray him to the german . hana also strike up a tentative romantic relationship with kip ( naveen andrew ) and an indian bomb diffuser in the british army . however and due to her past history and hana be afraid that become involve with kip will doom him to death and particularly consider his very dangerous line of work . at 160 minute in length and the english patient wonderfully evokes memory of the classic romantic epic of old and successfully find a balance of mystery and love and joy and tragedy . the end of the film be heartbreaking and sorrowful and but also uplifting in it own way . whilst some romantic relationship be doom from the very begin and others have a very good chance of bring happiness . nevertheless and in every case and it be always good to have love and lose and than never to have love at all .