Letter: ‘English Patient’ depicts world torn apart by war

Monday, April 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

This film does not glorify the life of a Nazi collaborator, as some have sugested. "The English Patient" is loosely based on the life of a Hungarian archaeologist during World War II. Briefly, in his attempts to save the life of his injured and dying lover, he hikes to a British army camp where a British officer beats and arrests the archaeologist and falsely accuses him of being a Nazi spy.

The archaeologist eventually escapes from his British captors and then encounters the Nazis. Ironically, they are the only ones who can help him. The Nazis provide him with an airplane and fuel in exchange for desert maps. This enables him to fulfill his promise to his lover that he would return to her.

I am not a Nazi supporter. The Nazis were monsters. However, is it fair to condemn a man for trying to save a loved one, even though the only way he can accomplish this is to help an enemy? This would present an impossible moral dilemma for anyone.

In the end, the archaeologist does suffer horrible consequences for helping the Nazis. He is shot down in the Nazi plane, burned beyond recognition and eventually dies. "The English Patient" does not celebrate this man's life. It is an observation of a life and world in turmoil.

Kenneth Wayne