“The English Patient,” 31 December 1997, video. See this one on a big screen for its beauty, and that is substantial, but that said, it didn’t move either Bronwen or me, and she’s a big fan of the author. The film looks at the life of a burn patient found in the desert during WWII, and goes back and forth to show you how and why he ended up that way. A great romantic “anything for the woman I love” piece that is appallingly smug and positive about someone selling out people to the Nazis for purely personal reasons to find the body/save the woman he loves. The hell with that crap. I thought the side stories more interesting and humane, especially the relationship between Juliet Binoche (God, is she gorgeous) and the Indian officer in Italy. In many ways, this strikes me as a real piece for yuppies and the “me generation”. Bring back “Casablanca.” It is, however, very beautiful and performances by Binoche, Willem Dafoe, and Ralph Fiennes as the injured man in Italy, and several others are quite good. Why this won for best picture just escapes me.