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Read a Post feature about Anthony Minghella
This movie won the 1996 Oscars for Best Picture; Director (Anthony Minghella); Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche); Art Direction; Cinematography; Sound; Original Dramatic Score; Costume; and Film Editing. |
'The English Patient'
The charred man (Ralph Fiennes) is the "English patient" of the title. The unidentified survivor of a plane crash in World War II, he has been found in the North African desert, his skin a mass of fleshy parchment, his memory a thing of the past. Turned over to the allies, he’s taken into custody by a medical convoy in Italy. But because of his hopeless condition, he’s essentially left to die in a deserted monastery in Tuscany, under the care of Hana, a French-Canadian nurse with emotional ghosts of her own.
We learn soon enough that the "English" patient actually is Count Laszlo de Almasy, a Hungarian linguist and explorer, who was assigned to North Africa as a map-maker. Among his colleagues were the vivacious, brilliant Katherine Clifton and her husband, Geoffrey, a British aristocrat. It becomes apparent that Almasy fell in love with Katherine and had a passionate affair with her. -- Desson Howe
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