Has anyone here seen the movie, The English Patient? If so, did you like it? If you did, why?
It was the latest in our Academy Award Best Picture quest, and I had been looking forward to it, largely because I had remembered positive reviews of it. I obviously had not paid enough attention to the reviews. It wasn't the worst movie—I knew enough not to join Porter in watching The Silence of the Lambs—but afterwards I felt I had been walking about in slime to no purpose.I appreciate Heather and Jon's zero tolerance policy when it comes to objectionable elements in movies, but I'm not that strict myself. If a book or movie has enough good in it, I will often put up with the parts I don't like. There's a moment I would like to cut out of Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, for example, but that doesn't stop it from being one of my favorite movies of all time. His Much Ado about Nothing has two scenes that are even more objectionable, but it's right up there in my estimation as well. I've been far more unhappy about some of the Oscar winners we've been watching, but still able to say afterwards, "I didn't like the movie, but so-and-so acted the part really, really well." Or, "There's a lot about this movie I don't like, but I can't help admiring the way it was crafted."
Not so The English Patient. Perhaps my view was colored by it being not at all the movie I had thought it was, but I found nothing redeeming about it at all. My mind is left scarred by disturbing images and sounds, and I find myself none the richer. Did anyone out there get more from the movie than I did?
Why, I wonder, do people watch disturbing films? Am I just unusually fussy? I understand that there are times when a book or movie has become so embedded in the culture that it is probably a good idea to know them, even if they are otherwise objectionable. The Lord of the Flies is an unpleasant book, yet what it says and the effect it has had probably make it worth reading, if only for understanding of the many subsequent references to it. On the other hand, I believe I have learned quite as much as I need to know about Hannibal Lector from crossword puzzles!
I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one dramatically affected by what I read or watch. Words and images make their mark on my brain and soul and cannot be undone. (I wish I remembered names and faces that well, or even history dates. It would be much more useful.) I must be very careful about what I allow into my mind, because it changes me. "Garbage in, garbage out" applies to more than computers. I suppose I could become inured to it all with more frequent exposure, but that's not exactly a comforting thought.
Then again, maybe I'm just being grumpy. Forrest Gump was better, but I was still less than impressed. I'd seen it before and hadn't cared much for it, but it was actually worse than I had remembered. (I must have seen a version that had been edited for television.) It was okay, and I supposed it's good to know the context for "Life is like a box of chocolates," but the sixties were a very unhappy time, and reliving them is not high on my list of what consitutes a good use of a couple of hours.
So, what do you think? Do movies (and books) leave an indelible impression on your soul? Can you appreciate the craft of a movie if you don't like the content (and vice versa) or does the one spoil the other? What makes a movie worth the time it takes to watch it?
Note to Janet: I may not have liked these movies, but I stayed awake! :) I must not be as sleep-deprived as usual.I went through the same questioning when after its 9 Oscars I came to the English Patient with rather high expectations. The Christmas scene was where I came closest ever in my life to walking out of a movie. The answer I kept getting when asking people what was so great about the movie was: "The beautiful pictures."
Yes, the movie contains a number of impressive panorama and landscape shots, and if I remember correctly, the Indian fellow was a nice guy. Beyond that I don't remember anything commendable, but fortunately most of the movie has fallen into the cracks of vague obscurity, as do all movies. I remember the Christmas scene as a synopsis, not a sequence of visual images. I remember wondering how anyone could appreciate such self-indulgent characters against the backdrop of something as serious and tragic as WWII, but I don't remember specifics of their poor behavior. I am blessed with poor movie memory and I don't mind.
Thank you! I feel better knowing someone else was as disturbed by the Christmas scene as I was. I won't go into details and bring them back to your mind (and mine), but if I had walked out of the movie, it would have been there. (Well, that and the torture room scene.) Less obviously offensive than other parts of the movie by the usual sex-profanity-and-violence standards, it was downright creepy in its obscenity. I have a friend who actually did walk out on a movie (I don't remember which it was), pausing to vomit into the trash can on her way out. I've never been that affected by a movie scene, but this one gave me an inkling of what caused her reaction.
I am like Stephan in that I have a poor movie memory. I have seen both The English Patient and Forrest Gump. I really don't remember anything from The English Patient other than people raved about it (maybe that was the media though, not people I knew). I tend to stay away from movies that generate a lot of publicity and if I do watch them, it is years later. I don't remember being wowed by it, but I don't really remember being disturbed by it either. I really don't remember it.
Forrest Gump I remember a little better. It entertained me. What I liked about that one was that someone who was good, honest and loyal would triumph in the end.
Generally, I watch a movie to be entertained and it either does that or not. I don't tend to analyze. I've been trying to think of a movie that I really enjoyed and want to watch again, but my movie memory fails me.
Speaking of scenery. I want to move to Scotland. We have been watching a BBC TV Series called "Monarch of the Glen". Absolutely stunning scenery! See if your local library has it!
Visual images stick with me for a remarkable amount of time. I therefor have to be very careful about what I watch. Add that to a general lack of enthusiasm for movies and see what you get. Thanks to Andy Bonner for feeling me out well enough to recommend movies I've enjoyed and found worth my time and imagination. I've walked out of two movies that I can remember. First, while at a friend's house watching "Montey Python and the Meaning of Life" I retreated to a room by myself, and second, I went to the bathroom during the torture scene of Braveheart.
Braveheart was tough to take at the end. Here is our little story about Braveheart.
We got the movie out for my family to watch while they were here for Easter one year. They are not as good as your family at keeping themselves busy with games, so we figured they could watch a movie while we were preparing dinner. (This was before any of us had kids).
My dad kept wandering out to see what was going on in the kitchen. I couldn't understand why. We didn't watch the movie until they had all left. Then we understood. My father is on the squeemish side, so he would just leave the movie during parts that made him uncomfortable.
I can take most of the movie, but I have no desire to see the end.
Related to this, I have a book called "The Scottish Chiefs" by Jane Porter. I have tried to read it a couple of times, but I feel I am getting near to the part where Wallace's wife is killed and I find it too sad to read. I actually don't know if this is going to happen in the book, but in the movie it does.
You already know what I think about movies, for the most part. But I did want to chime in about Lord of the Flies. I do remember being sickened and scarred by reading it and do not recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it, cultural references or not.
There have been movies I wish I had walked out of (can
t
Sorry about that. My keyboard suddenly died, so I thought I should just click send to save what I had already written.
...(can't remember the title of the one I'm thinking of) and since our "zero tolerance" policy, we have turned off several movies in the middle.
There, now I'm done.
