The English Patient Blu-ray Kristen Scott Thomas Ralph Feinnes

directed by Anthony Minghella
U.S.A. 1996

Anthony Minghella wrote and directed this award-winning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel about a doomed and tragic romance set against the backdrop of World War II. In a field hospital in Italy, Hana (Juliette Binoche), a nurse from Canada, is caring for a pilot who was horribly burned in a plane wreck; he has no identification and cannot remember his name, so he's known simply as "the English Patient," thanks to his accent. When the hospital is forced to evacuate, Hana determines en route that the patient shouldn't be moved far due to his fragile condition, so the two are left in a monastery to be picked up later. In time, Hana begins to piece together the patient's story from the shards of his memories; he's actually Count Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), of Hungarian nobility and an explorer working with a group mapping uncharted territory in North Africa. An Englishman, Geoffrey Clifton (Colin Firth), soon joins Almasy's team; travelling with him is his lovely and spirited wife, Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas). Katherine and Laszlo soon fall in love, which leads Laszlo to betray his friend, his country and all that is dear to him. Meanwhile, Hana and the Patient are joined by Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh with a gift for defusing mines, and Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), an intelligence agent who knows some of Laszlo's most shameful secrets. The English Patient won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche).

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 15th, 1996 - USA

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Alliance Atlantis - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Buena Vista - Region 0 - PAL vs. Alliance Atlantis - Region 'A' Blu-ray

(Alliance - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Buena Vista - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Alliance - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Alliance Atlantis (Canada) Region 0 - NTSC	Buena Vista Home Entertainment (UK) Region 0 - PAL	Alliance Atlantis (Canada) Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	2:41:40	2:35:00 (4%PAL speedup)	2:41:44.194
Video	1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.21 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.30 PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1080i Single-layered Blu-ray Feature: 24,460,462,080 bytes Disc Size: 24,528,728,138 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Bitrate: 20.16 Mbps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Alliance
Bitrate: BV (R2)
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1) , DUB: French (Dolby Digital 2.0)	English (Dolby Digital 5.1) , DUB: French (Dolby Digital 2.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 4078 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4078 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps Dolby Digital Audio French 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Subtitles	English (close captioned) and none	English (close captioned), French and none	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Alliance Atlantis (Canada) Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterbox - 1.85:1 Discographic Information: Layers: Dual Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: January 29th, 2000 Keep Case Chapters 32	Release Information: Studio: Buena Vista (UK) Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterbox - 1.85:1 Discographic Information: Layers: Dual Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: 8 January, 2001 Keep Case Chapters 32	Release Information: Studio: Alliance (Canada) 1080i Single-layered Blu-ray Feature: 24,460,462,080 bytes Disc Size: 24,528,728,138 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Bitrate: 20.16 Mbps Edition Details: • none Blu-ray Release Date: May 5th, 2009 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 16

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Alliance (Canada) Blu-ray - May 09': The story here is short - but not so sweet. The Canadian Alliance Blu-ray is interlaced (1080i) and single-layered. While it looks significantly better than the non-anamorphic SD-DVDs - it can still improve. Colors and detail are dramatically superior but noise still exists and the, almost 3 hour, film needs dual-layering and a progressive rendering to be optimal.

One of the best things about the Blu-ray release is the DTS-HD audio track at over 4000 Kpbs. Gabriel Yared's gentle score and tracks of traditional Hungarian folk songs and music by Irving Berlin and Benny Goodman sound almost as good as my Japanese SACD of the soundtrack.

There are no extras or subtitles (or even menus) on this Blu-ray. I admittedly enjoyed the film very much, even in this lesser form, of HD but it's time that MiraMax - who must have made a ton of profit off this film - give it the just digital transfer that it deserves. That means, dual-layering, progressive Blu-ray with at least the extras contained on the Collector's Edition DVD. This Blu-ray has one redeeming feature - the price, at the writing of this review, is $17.95 CAD = 15.14 USD - the same price as the CE DVD but for those impatient the substantially improved transfer may be worth the upgrade.

NOTE: I had initially forgotten that Enrique had a comparison and I've added Blu-ray grabs to those later MiraMax editions HERE.

***

ON THE DVDs: I have quite a lot to say about these releases as I am such a huge fan of this particular film.

The Alliance disc is sharper than the Buena Vista UK. The skin tones seem to have an excess amount of red in them in the PAL version. Neither disc is anamorphic and neither have any Extra Features. The Buena Vista is darker and hazier. They both have 32 chapters which are named exactly the same. Alliance was given license to produce this DVD in Canada, most likely for the fact of adding the French audio dub. I expect the video is exactly the same on the US Miramax version. There are both German, Italian and other European DVD editions that are anamorphic and include Extras. In Region 1 I would prefer to watch my Criterion laserdisc for its wonderful image and extensive Extras. There really is no reason why this has not been re-released anamorphic and with some quality Extras in Region 1.

- Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus

(Alliance - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Buena Vista - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

The Alliance Blu-ray is interlaced...