The film:
For Minghella, the task of making this brilliant novel into a successful film was a very difficult one. However, when the film was made it received nine Oscars and was acclaimed as a fantastic film by almost everyone who saw it.
The aspects of the novel the film does justice to:
The novel in general does do a lot of justice to the film, and although the book is not a particularly long one, Minghella is unable to include the whole book.
The desert in the film is done very well and deserves a lot of credit. I feel that it is portrayed very well. The desert seems to be very much the main scene in the film, with the plot focussing on this aspect of the novel. However, in the novel, the desert is by no means the most important scene; it is in fact the Villa. I personally don’t seem to mind this too much and I feel that it is no injustice to the book. I also think that the desert portrays namelessness and nationlessness very well. Although the scene where they are having a Christmas lunch in the dessert is not particularly special and does not really add anything positive to the film, it does portray the theme of namelessness and nationlessness very well, as the idea of having a Christmas lunch in the desert with a man dressed in a father Christmas suit is very obscure.
The scene at El Taj, where Almàsy tries to borrow a jeep from the English is done brilliantly. It is a huge contrast to the rest of the film, as it reminds us that although there is this feeling of nationlessness and namelessness, there is still a war going on, and this comes before anything. So when Almàsy goes to el Taj, we are brought back to reality about how there I this war that is going on. I personally believe that should Almàsy have given his name as Clifton when he was asking for the jeep, he would have got it immediately, however, because he gives his real name, they are unwilling to give it to him, and eventually h ends up being taken away on suspicion of being mad.
I personally feel that the relationship between Kip and Hana was not done very well. In the novel, there is a brilliant contrast between their gentle relationship and the course, rough relationship between Almàsy and Katherine, but in the film, justice is not served on this part of the plot. There is, however, one part of this relationship that is done well, and that is the scene in the church with the pulley. I feel that is a wonderful display of someone’s sincere love for someone else and it is displayed very well and a great justice to the film.
The aspects of the novel the film fails to do justice to:
Minghella’s decision to exclude the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs is one that still does not cease to confuse me. I feel that this event in the book is vital. It is the turning point of the book and is what it all builds up to. However, Minghella feels that it is suitable to exclude this event and replace it with the death of a minor character, Hardy.
The film uses his death to terminate both the love affair between Hana and Kip and Kip’s stay at the Villa. His minor role is also inflated to account for the exclusion of Lord Suffolk
Another major fault of the film is the diminishing of Kip’s roll. I feel that his roll is almost more important than that of the English Patient and Hana. In the book, the chapter ‘In Situ’ focuses completely on Kip and is about his crucial-to-the-plot experience in England.
The casting of the film I feel was badly done. This is not to do with the quality of acting (on the contrary, this was done very well); it is to do with age. In the book Hana is depicted as a very young adult, perhaps no older than twenty. However, in the film she is too old. Katherine is also too old I the film, she should be young as well, she has just left university. Also Almàsy is too young, he should be a middle aged man of forty five, however, in the film he is far too young and looks about the same age as Katherine. This is a crime as one of the most interesting thins about Almàsy and Katherine’s relationship is the age contrast. Almàsy is a middle aged Hungarian and Katherine is an upper class young English woman.
In the film, the English patient dies eventually because of his injuries, he says that he doesn’t want to live anymore and gives up his struggle for life. However, in the film, there is an aspect of euthanasia. He says that he doesn’t want to live anymore, so he persuades Hana to give him an overdose of morphine, and it is this that kills him.
Another thing that I didn’t like was the idea of Almàsy being shot down at the beginning which is why he ends up so badly burnt. However, in the novel he is not shot down, and I think there is no need to add this to the film.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, the negative points about this film, in comparison to the book far outweigh the positive points. Although the film itself received nine Oscars, I still feel that it does not o complete justice to the book. However, as a film, it was very good and I enjoyed watching it a lot, but, as a film set out to do justice to the novel, it did not do a wonderful job.
