THE ENGLISH PATIENT--A Question [*spoiler]
Moby
Saw the English Patient a week ago, and thought it was a truly
beautiful and poignant film. I had several unanswered questions
afterwards, but fortunately some of the posts here cleared them up
(specifically Caravaggio's de-thumbing, Maddox's suicide, etc.)
However, I still have one nagging thought, regarding Hana and
Almasy: why did Hana stay behind to take care of Almasy? I mean, surely
there were more important soldiers, etc. who were sick and needed care.
Why stop off at an abandoned villa and take care of somebody who is
practically dead?
I didn't think the movie showed us Hana's motivation for this
convincingly enough. Was it just because Hana felt distraught that
everybody close to her always died, and she was determined to keep
Almasy from continuing in that vein? Or did she feel some sort of personal
connection to Almasy in addition to her feelings for Kip?
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hk...@intergate.bc.ca
Ken Rudolph
Moby wrote:
> However, I still have one nagging thought, regarding Hana and
> Almasy: why did Hana stay behind to take care of Almasy? I mean, surely
> there were more important soldiers, etc. who were sick and needed care.
> Why stop off at an abandoned villa and take care of somebody who is
> practically dead?
>
> I didn't think the movie showed us Hana's motivation for this
> convincingly enough. Was it just because Hana felt distraught that
> everybody close to her always died, and she was determined to keep
> Almasy from continuing in that vein? Or did she feel some sort of personal
> connection to Almasy in addition to her feelings for Kip?
1) Her best friend had just been killed by the mine, and she was so out
of it that she walked into a minefield.
2) She felt particular compassion for this mysterious patient who was
obviously suffering needlessly from the rigors of travelling.
3) She encountered the monestary (or whatever) and felt the tranquility
of the place.
4) It was an opportunity to opt out of the war; why not? I thought her
motivations were totally provided.
5) Btw, she hadn't really met Kip at this point, at least with her
attentive mind.
--Ken Rudolph (ke...@worldnet.att.net)
Trudi Marrapodi
In article <581fup$5...@carrera.intergate.bc.ca>, hk...@intergate.bc.ca
(Moby) wrote:
> Saw the English Patient a week ago, and thought it was a truly
> beautiful and poignant film. I had several unanswered questions
> afterwards, but fortunately some of the posts here cleared them up
> (specifically Caravaggio's de-thumbing, Maddox's suicide, etc.)
>
> However, I still have one nagging thought, regarding Hana and
> Almasy: why did Hana stay behind to take care of Almasy? I mean, surely
> there were more important soldiers, etc. who were sick and needed care.
> Why stop off at an abandoned villa and take care of somebody who is
> practically dead?
Here's my theory, and I think the book backs me up: Hana is tired of the
miserable dailiness of the deaths all around her every day. She has
overdosed on seeing one soldier die after another. She's burnt out. She's
had it. This is in addition to the personal losses she has suffered (in
the book, these are her lover, her baby--she was pregnant, but got an
abortion after she found out her lover was dead--and her father, who also
dies in the war; in the movie, these are her lover and her best friend in
the nursing corps).
My feeling is that stopping in the monastery to care for this one patient
is Hana's way of taking a break from life. She knows he's going to die.
Therefore there's no suspense to it. He is not one of endless numbers of
soldiers she'll try to save, or watch die, each day--he's just one. Taking
care of him, trying to keep him alive and comfortable for as long as
possible, is something she can handle, something meaningful to her--as
opposed to endless seas of troops. Just as it may be psychologically
easier to send money to one starving child to help him have a better life
than to send it to an organization that helps lots of children. You get
the feeling that even if you can't save the whole world, you can make this
ONE life better. I think that's Hana's motivation here. That and the fact
that she's not ready to face the real world yet; she's too absorbed in her
losses and grief.
> I didn't think the movie showed us Hana's motivation for this
> convincingly enough. Was it just because Hana felt distraught that
> everybody close to her always died, and she was determined to keep
> Almasy from continuing in that vein? Or did she feel some sort of personal
> connection to Almasy in addition to her feelings for Kip?
Of course she did. She denies it when Caravaggio asks "You're in love with
him, aren't you--your poor patient?," but he's right. I think at first
Hana did want to keep Almasy alive as long as she could. He himself asks
her why she is doing this and she says "Because I'm a nurse," but the
truth is, it's because she can't let go of him any more than she can let
go of her lover or her best friend Jan. She's made a bond with him now and
she feels that keeping him alive gives her a reason to go on. Only at the
end of the movie, after she has learned the lessons she needs to learn
from him, Caravaggio and Kip, is she able to let him go when he asks her
to give him an overdose of morphine. At first she breaks down sobbing, but
after she does it, you can tell she's at peace with her decision and knows
she's doing the right thing to give him a peaceful way to die. When he
does, she lets go not only of him, but also her lover, Jan and even Sgt.
Hardy who saved her life only to lose his later in the same random way he
tried to protect her from losing hers. And then she is at last ready to
leave the monastery and return to the world of the living. She's too young
to spend the rest of her life "in love with ghosts." And she knows that
now.
Robert Isaac Lee
Moby wrote:
>
> However, I still have one nagging thought, regarding Hana and
> Almasy: why did Hana stay behind to take care of Almasy? I mean, surely
> there were more important soldiers, etc. who were sick and needed care.
> Why stop off at an abandoned villa and take care of somebody who is
> practically dead?
>
friend. The opportunity to escape the insanity, while at the same time
being of service to Almasy was to good to pass up.