·Film Project·
·Part 14·
I looked at the moon, but only see you
When Almásy woke up from his hospital bed, Germany's war of aggression was over. When he was investigated, he said he had lost his memory and knew nothing about the past. That's why people call him the "English Patient."
Among the few things he could remember was that his beloved wife had lost her life in the war.
Also losing a loved one is Hana, who worked as a nurse in this protracted war. She heard her lover die in the war while donating blood at a field hospital, and her best friend's car triggered a mine while marching on the road in Italy.
She believes that everyone she loves will be hurt, and she empathizes with his indifference and alienation in caring for a British patient. Coupled with the fact that the patient was so weak, she took the initiative to ask to stay with her and the English patient in a nearby convent.
Betrayals in war are childlike compared with our betrayals during peace. New lovers are nervous and tender, but smash everything-for the heart is an organ of fire.
(The betrayal in the smoke of war is much more naïve and simple than our betrayal in the peaceful and prosperous world!) First-time lovers are nervous and tender, but they can crush everything – just because their hearts are like fire. ）
The British patient was originally flown through the Sahara Desert by plane, and the local Arabs used indigenous methods to save his life, but his face was completely destroyed.
The war could have ended sooner, if Almásy had not initially given the topographic map to the Germans.
Almásy was a British archaeologist, member of the Royal Geographical Society, and aristocratic.
These bits and pieces of the past, he relied on his old books and notebooks at the head of the bed to pick up memories.
The quiet monastery gradually grew more and more populated: first Caravaggio, who claimed to be a thief to steal German guns as a native of Hana, and then two Arab deminers who had previously lined up to clear mines for the field hospital.
Caravaggio knew the British patient. He spied on what he was doing in his hospital bed.
"I cut off my heart night and missed you, and at dawn I recovered"
Everynight i cut out my heart,but in the morning it was full again.
It turns out that the "wife" in Almásy's mouth is Catherine, the wife of good friend Jeff, a mapmaker. The environment for researchers during the war years was also particularly difficult. They live in the desert and live with the locals. Catherine often bought goods that the locals asked for at random prices.
The two met at a market full of Arabs, and he said she had been deceived, and she said she would buy her favorite.
During the week of her husband's temporary absence, a car in the research team was damaged, and together with 3 staff members, the two of them stayed. In the desert, where the temperature difference is extremely large and accompanied by a strong sandstorm, the two of them hide in the same car and spend a reassuring and ambiguous night by telling stories.
Ask yourself my lover
Are you too cruel to tie me up?
The love that arises by coincidence does not end with escaping from the desert. While sending Catherine back to the hotel, Almásy chases after her, and Catherine invites him to her room, which he refuses.
Back in his hotel room, Almásy was overwhelmed. Suddenly, Catherine appeared in a white dress. He rushed up to his knees and hugged her, and Catherine hated him for pounding him.
At this time, Almásy, who was holding his lover, finally stopped hesitating and took Catherine deeply into his arms, touching her and kissing her.
I didn't fall in love with him, I fell in love with the past.
Hana falls in love with Kip, who is in charge of demining, while her best friend is killed by a mine and she is overwhelmed on the road dissatisfied with the mine, when he saves his life. Like the inevitability of fate, or the sense of security. The man and his assistant set up a tent to live outside the monastery, and when Hana knocked on the old pianist, he stopped her, but found for her the bomb hidden under the piano.
One night, after she had taken care of her English patients to sleep, Kip filled the steps of the monastery with small candles made of snails, guided Hana to a room full of medieval deities, took her to the church dome with a rope, lit the signal lights, and let her wander among the frescoes.
"When I play the piano, I meet my lover." It was what Hana's mother had told her, and when she met Kip, she believed it.
The day they were together, Kip was called on a mission. This time the bomb was under the bridge. A vaguely uneasy Hana decided to see him after he left.
The demining work that had been carried out in the past was met with an accident: a convoy announcing the withdrawal of The German army and the victory of the war was brought about by a huge shock on the bridge deck, his tools fell into the mud of the mine, and the oxygen-frozen letter was about to thaw.
In a hurry, Kip randomly cut a lead. There was no danger, the bomb was defused. The two lovers hugged each other in spite of the dirty mess.
In order not to hurt her husband, Hana eventually decided to break up with Almásy. Unexpectedly, Jeff, who learned of his wife's cheating, still chose to fly the plane carrying his wife and died with Almásy, and eventually the plane was destroyed, and Almásy escaped the disaster, Jeff died on the spot, but Catherine was seriously injured and could not move her limbs.
—You’re wering the thimble,
—Of course,you idiot, I always wear it , I’ve always worn it（I’ve always love you…
(Are you still wearing that pendant I gave you?) ）
(Fools, of course.) I've been wearing it and I'll always be wearing it. I will always love you)
Caravaggio finally confessed his identity:
"Do you know what a year of marriage is?"
It turned out that Jeff was on his first anniversary with his wife, and when he surprised Catherine, he bumped into Catherine's private lover. Caravaggio was the colleague who advised Jeff at the time.
After Almásy betrayed the map to the Germans, the fighting dragged on, Caravaggio lost his lover, and he himself was cut off two thumbs while being interrogated by the Germans.
Living on morphine, he finally found the original "culprit", and he decided to end their lives the night he told him the truth.
However, after Almásy removed his last fig leaf of self-consolation, those present and eavesdropped were silent.
It turns out that in the desert where Jeff's plane crashed, he holds Catherine and finds a dark cave. In the desert, Almásy can only save his lover by escaping on his own and seeking help.
He walked for three days and three nights to find the British, but was transported out of Italy as a German spy, he jumped off the train, broke his leg, desperate and anxious, he chose to change planes with the Germans. However, when we rushed to the cave, the life of the lover had long since passed.
—I'll always go back to that church, look at my paintings
Favorite paintings)
—I'll always go back that church
—So, one day we'll meet.
Hannah's love affair with Kip was also short-lived, and in the end, the two broke up because of their respective duties in the war.
These are two loves in the midst of war, which can resist the toughness of the heart, but cannot prevent the fragility of life.
Finally, there is a poem written by Catherine to Almásy in the Cave:
My lover
I'm waiting for you.
How long is a day in the dark? What about a week?
The fire has been extinguished...
I feel so cold.
I really wanted to put myself outside, and it would be sunny there.
I'm afraid that writing and drawing will run out of electricity.
We're all going to die.
To die in love is rich, regardless of race.
We have each other's body odor in our mouths,
The body once desired unity,
Swim in the river of love,
But there is fear in the heart, like this dark cave.
I want to engrave these on my body forever.
We are a true nation
Instead of drawing boundaries on the map, only the strongman's name is given.
I know you will come back and pick me up and take me to the temple of the wind,
That's all I pray,
To be able to walk with you in heaven and with friends,
Go to a promised land without a map.
The lights went out.
I was writing silently in the dark.
Watching this movie together while visiting a friend's hostel, I think you can also find a leisure time to feel the love in the story.
<h1>The English Patient (1996).</h1>
Director: Anthony Mingla
Writers: Michael Ondaje / Anthony Mingla
Starring: Ralph Fiennes / Juliet Binoche / William Dafoe / Kristen Scott Thomas / Navion Andreeves
Genre: Drama / Romance / War
Country/Region of Production: United States / United Kingdom
Language: English / German / Italian / Arabic
Release: 1996-12-06 (USA) / 1997-03-14 (UK)
Runtime: 162 minutes
Also known as: British Lover (Taiwan) / Don't Ask Me Who I Am (Hong Kong)