The English Patient is a 1996 British-American romantic war drama film directed by Anthony Minghella and based on Michael Ondaatje's award-winning 1992 novel of the same name. The movie follows Count Lazlo Almásy (played by Ralph Fiennes), a Hungarian cartographer, as he travels through the Sahara Desert during the 1930s working for the Royal Geographical Society.
During his travels, Almásy has a passionate affair with a married British woman named Katherine Clifton (played by Kristin Scott Thomas), eventually leading to heartbreak and her tragic death in a plane crash. As World War II unfolds, Almásy becomes a spy for the Germans and is severely burned in a plane crash in the Libyan desert.
He is eventually rescued by a Canadian nurse named Hana (played by Juliette Binoche), who cares for him in an abandoned Italian villa as he slowly recovers his memory. As she tends to Almásy's needs, Hana becomes friends with an Indian soldier named Kip (played by Naveen Andrews), who is assigned to clear the villa of bombs.
The film weaves back and forth between Almásy's memories of his time in the desert and his present-day struggles with his injuries, his recollections of his relationship with Katherine, and his growing feelings for Hana. The English Patient won nine Academy Awards in 1997, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Binoche's role as Hana.