the english patient be a love story set in europe a world war ii end . it be a wartime romance mystery epic and like hiroshima and mon amour and the sweet hereafter and and after life . anthony minghella weave extravagant beauty around a central character whose condition be grotesque and and put emotional barrier between the character and the audience . this adult love story be an intimate portrait in the tradition of casablanca and dr. zhivago . the film sweep gracefully attain a level of eroticism and emotional connection that many similar film have miss . tell in flashback and it be a masterpiece of intimate moment and spectacular largesse . ralph fiennes play the english patient and count laszlo de almasy and a hungarian cartographer of few word and who work for the british government and and be station in the north african desert . count laszlo be the unidentified survivor of a plane crash turn over to the ally and take into custody by a medical convoy in italy and and essentially leave to die in peace and in an isolated monastery in tuscany and under the care of an inspiring pretty nurse who inject him with morphine and and read to him a book and consider his great treasure and and his one survive possession . hana seek to stimulate his touch memory and wrap up in his head and release in lose piece from his disturbed mind . fiennes give a haunt and pain performance and play the young man whose veneer of charm can not plainly cover his heart capacity for passion . he make u sympathize with the character in show self doubt and weakness . a a badly burn man and he have only cherish memory . his joy and heartbreak be completely clear and visible in his eye . he remember fall under the spell of an attractive english marry woman . he remember the way this turn him from a harsh abrupt wanderer into a man willing to betray everything for love . his tragic love affair form the heart of the motion picture . kristin scott thomas match fiennes work with a radiant sensuality . she be captivate a the married european woman and convey the audience with the energy and enthusiasm for life that the count find irresistible . their different world and despairing and hopeful and menacing and resilient and be simply beautiful . with intense passion and intelligence and this attractive blonde burn the screen a the different wife . juliette binoche seem to shine a the french canadian nurse full of life and energy . this vibrant young woman have a heart of gold and kissing wound soldier and but she think that she be a curse a anybody she ever love tends to die on her . colin firth be good a katherine husband . he be a british spy fly into the tough desert in a yellow biplane to take aerial map of the whole north african continent . he quickly become friend of the count and yet when he realize that his wife have commit adultery and his face reflect a peaceful fury . william dafoe play a double agent spy who cover his anger with a strange charm . he be a crippled war veteran who have a hidden agenda . this cunning canadian man seem to know of some dark secret in almasy past . he believe the english patient be partially responsible for the mutilation of his hand and and be busy seek revenge on everyone even remotely involve . naveen andrew be hana ardent lover he be a handsome sikh and and an explosive expert with a dangerous job there a scene that be stick in my head because it literally have me on the edge of my seat for what seem an eternity in this particular scene and the military sapper have to cut the wire on a bomb that have be hide on a bridge it on a timer and he only have a few minute leave the scene cut back and forth between his tense face and the wire and his dirty finger a they try madly to figure out how to untangle and cut the wire without detonate the bomb all the conventional element of the genre be at peak of excellence in the english patient . john seale cinematography be breathtaking and and gabriel yared majestic music be dreamy and and romantic this be a rich motion picture with ambition and style and a fever dream and lyrical and complex we be almost able to feel the heat of the desert and the pain of the burning and the intimate flush of humanity that become the most haunting element of this epic love story .