A Decade to Forgive the English Patient!

First of all, I love the movies. All kinds of movies. I can see Saw 1,2,3,4, I can enjoy Gone With The Wind. I've even sat through dogs like Joe Dirt, and Gone Fishin' and triumphs like Titanic and Apollo 13. Overall I think going to the movies is one of my favorite things to do. Except that dreadful night in 1996 when I walked into The English Patient, and then staggered out of it a babbling, confused idiot! More on that later.

This weekend, I went with my bride and friends to see the new Steve Carell flick, Dan In Real Life. I honestly did not know that Juliette Binoche was in it. She of course was one of 4 big stars in the English Patient. Ralph Fiennes, Willem DaFoe and Kristin Scott Thomas the other three. So much did I loathe the EP, that I implemented a self imposed ban on myself that I would NOT go to another movie that starred ANY of these four! That lasted a little over ten years.

I will readily admit, I accidentally saw three movies in that time that had one of these four in it. All by accident. After buying my ticket, and corn, and then seeing one of their names in the opening credits, I told myself it was an honest error and the ban was still good and in effect. That happened again this weekend, when I saw Juliette Binoches' name in the opening. Being there with three others, I decided to tough it out.

The English Patient to me is so horrible, overrated, and did I leave out BORING?? Yes, I've seen flashbacks before, yes, I know some say it's romantic, and I know it's soooo deep... I know it won awards. Please....IT STINKS! Oh I forgot, could it be any LONGER????? I know for a fact that I am not alone in the hatred of this celluloid sewer.

But after seeing Juliette Binoche Friday night with her great performance in a really good movie, I decided that 11 years was long enough. I'd made my point to myself and those around me. She is a lovely, fresh face that isn't in a lot of movies, and I would like to see her more often. For that to happen, the moratorium had to be lifted. It did require a majority vote, of 1, and I voted for it to be lifted and it is so. Forgive yes, forget no!

These blue's will never subject themselves to another screening of the EP. If it's on TV I'm turning, if it's on at your house I'm leaving, if it ever comes back to the theaters, I'm picketing. Thank you Juliette Binoche, you have freed me to view you in a whole new light. I do feel liberated on the ban being lifted, but I am confident that the ban being instituted in the first place was apt!