The film opens at the pivotal moment in two lives, a pre-war bi-plane flying over the desert carrying two passengers. The film will tell us who these two are, the rest of the film telling us what led up to that flight and what came after. Minghella skews the timeline in a way that only cinema is capable of. The present day action involves Hana (Juliette Binoche), a French-Canadian nurse in Italy who stays behind to care for the mysterious patient. She creates a makeshift church in an old monastery. This “English patient” comes to remind Hana of other men she has lost during the war. She is joined at the monastery by Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh officer working with a bomb disposal unit, and Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), a mysterious visitor who has an interest in the morphine Hana dispenses to her patient. Spurred on by the book that was found with his charred body in the wreckage of his plane, Hana’s mysterious patient starts to regain his memory in flashes of detail.

The back-story comes together gradually, told by this dying man in a bed. The performances in The English Patient really make the film. Binoche is a woman so affected by the war that she finds herself drawn to its wounded. Dafoe gives one of his best performances as the mysterious Caravaggio, a man whose motives remain murky for most of the film – as they should – but who we see clearly harboring much anger. Minghella has creatively adapted a book that was widely considered unfilmable, staying true to the heart of the material while giving a sumptuous visual feast worthy of the ages.

Commentary by writer/director Anthony Minghella: He talks about each scene, adapting the book, how he chose the music, the actors, and how certain decisions were made. A detailed talk about the film.

Commentary by writer/director Anthony Minghella, producer Saul Zaentz, and Michael Ondaatje: The three men most responsible about the film go into great detail here, but this track covers a lot of the same bases as Minghella’s solo commentary.

Master class with writer/director Anthony Minghella (includes deleted scenes): Deleted scenes with context given by Minghella. He outlines each scene and talks abut the decisions that led to their deletion.

CBC Documentary “The Making of The English Patient”: A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film. We hear from Minghella and all the principle participants. Gives some details, but this is not very entertaining.

Author Michael Ondaatje featurette: The other of the source novel on how he came to writing, how he evolved from poetry to prose and the process of adapting the book.

Producer Saul Zaentz featurette: Perhaps the shortest piece on the disc, this features Minghella and the principle actors talking about the joy and encouragement of working with Zaentz.

Production designer Stuart Craig featurette: Craig talks about creating the world of The English Patient from the ground up. What he has to say is pretty interesting.

A historical look at the real Count Almasy: An interesting look at figure behind the book and film. They talk about his exploits during and before the North African campaign in World War II. This piece is definitely worth a look.

“From Novel to Screenplay”: This short feature has the cast and crew talking about the experience of reading the book and creating the film. Clips from the film are shown.

Filmmaker Conversations: Anthony Minghella, Saul Zaentz, Michael Ondaatje, and editor Walter Murch talk about their experiences making the film, reading the book, and how some artistic decisions were made. Some of what they have to say is interesting, some of it is downright boring.

The Eyes of Phil Brady – Still Photographer: Rarely do we get to hear from the still photographer. Here Brady talks about his 20 year association with Zaentz and what goes in to his job on the set. This is worth watching for a peek into an aspect of filmmaking that we rarely hear about.