"The Cave of Swimmers," "August," and Comparison to the Film Adaptation

Hello again readers,

This time around I read the last two chapters of the novel: "The Cave of Swimmers," and "August." I also watched the 1996 film adaptation of The English Patient, starring Ralph Fiennes, Kristen Scott Thomas, and Juliette Binoche. 

In this post, I hope to give a brief overview of the final two chapters and also discuss the film adaptation in comparison to the novel.

"The Cave of Swimmers"

In this chapter, we learn more about The English Patient's romance with Katharine during his years exploring the North African desert. Katharine's husband Geoffrey, a member of The English Patient's group, decides to throw The English Patient, who at this point is known to be the Almásy Caravaggio speaks of, a party. At this party, Katharine reads a story from Herodotus' The Histories. It is the story of Gyges, a King of Lydia. In the story, Gyges' predecessor Candaules tells Gyges of his wife's beauty, and instructs him to hide in her chambers at night so he can gaze at her. Gyges follows the direction of Candaules but is seen by the woman. She gives him two options: 

"Either he must die who formed this design, or you who have looked upon me naked" (234).

Gyges decides to slay Candaules and becomes King of Lydia, reigning for twenty-eight years.

I couldn't help but draw a parallel between the positions of Gyges and Almásy. Katharine is the woman, Candaules is her husband Geoffrey, and Almásy is Gyges.

As many of you have deduced, I would love for you to read this novel, so I want to provide a warning. What I discuss in the next few paragraphs is a bit of a spoiler. 

Geoffrey learns of Katharine's affair and decides to exact revenge upon Almásy. He attempts to hit Almásy with his plane, whilst Katharine is riding with him in it, but it goes terribly wrong. Geoffrey dies, and Katharine is gravely wounded. Almásy takes Katharine to a cave nearby, "The Cave of Swimmers," and attempts to find help at the nearest outpost. 

Later, he returns to find Katharine dead. This was discussed in previous chapters, but I thought its presence in this chapter was even more emotionally powerful. As I said before, please still read this novel even though part of it has been spoiled!

"August"

The final chapter of the novel is primarily focused on Kip. When Kip learns of the news of the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan, he has a very strong reaction. This is to be expected as Kip's work is the biggest part of his identity. 

Kip retrieves his rifle, and in a bout of fury runs up to Almásy's room and points the rifle at him. Kip's anger is not only derived from his opposition to explosives, but it comes from his national identity as well. 

"I grew up with traditions from my country, but later, more often, from your country. Your fragile white island that with customs and manners and books and prefects and reason somehow converted the rest of the world. You stood for precise behaviour. I knew if I lifted a teacup with the wrong finger I'd be banished. If I tied the wrong kind of knot in a tie I was out. Was it just ships that gave you such power? Was it, as my brother said, because you had the histories and printing presses?" (283).

Kip's outrage is due to the history of oppression that his country has faced at the hands of the English. Ondaatje uses Kip to explore the complexity of the effects of colonization on Indians like Kip. 

The irony in this passage is that Almásy isn't even English, he's Hungarian.

The Film

As with any film adaptation, there were many changes made to the story. One of the major differences that I noticed was the lack of focus on Kip, Hana, and Caravaggio. The film was primarily set in the desert and in Cairo and focused on the relationship between Almásy and Katharine. While I understood that there is just simply too much in the novel to cram into a film that is of watchable length, I was disappointed with the lack of development of some of the characters.

Caravaggio

One of the most drastic differences between the novel and the film is that in the film Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe) and Hana never knew each other in the past. In the novel, we learn that Caravaggio was a close friend of Hana's father and that she grew up learning at his side. 

Caravaggio did not receive much attention at all, aside from a particularly disturbing scene depicting his thumbs being cut off by the Germans after he refused to give them information during his interrogation. 

This scene was discussed in the book although having a visual certainly put a bit more emphasis on it. 

"As he lay under the table, the blood from his hands fell into his face, and he suddenly thought clearly and slipped the handcuff off the table leg, flinging the chair away to drown out the pain and then leaning to the left to step out of the other cuff. Blood everywhere now. His hands already useless" (59).

 Caravaggio's character in the film felt as if it was barely there. I disliked that he wasn't further explored as I think he brings a lot to the story. 

Kip

Similar to Caravaggio, the presence of Kip (Naveem Andrews) is minimal in the film adaptation despite his frequent appearances and primary role in the novel. The film does not make any references to Kip's past, as the novel extensively has, and, like Caravaggio, his character is reduced to only one or two scenes. 

One of these key scenes involves him defusing a bomb in a pit of water at the villa. 

"The muck, which was their name for oxygen, was going all over his clothes, hissing as it hit the water. He waited for the frost to appear and then began to shear metal off with a chisel. He poured more on, waited and chiselled deeper. . . He breathed out, was still for a few seconds, and with the needle pliers cut the contact in two before he breathed in again. He gasped as the freeze burned part of his hand when he pulled it back out of the circuits. The bomb was dead" (214-215). 

I particularly enjoyed this scene because I thought it captured the intensity presented in the text. Defusing a bomb using liquid oxygen seemed both interesting and stressful, and I thought the film did a good job of illustrating the moment.

I was frustrated that Kip's backstory didn't get featured by the film whatsoever, as I thought it was a central part of the thematic ideas presented in the novel; but alas, Hollywood is Hollywood.

Hana

Although the film does primarily focus on Katharine and Almásy's relationship, I thought that Hana (Juliette Binoche) was explored somewhat adequately. 

I found the relationship between Hana and her patient in the film to be very similar to that of the novel. From the very beginning of the novel, we learn that "[Almásy] is her despairing saint" (3).

One of the most striking scenes of the film was when Hana was chewing plums for Almásy and feeding him the softened fruit. I thought this scene captured Hana's tenderness and love for her patient as the novel did. 

Another scene that I thought did Hana's character justice was near the very end of the film. Almásy refuses the morphine that she is attempting to administer to him. She looks longingly for a moment, and then obliges his request, smashing each capsule of the drug. After a brief pause, she bursts into tears. I thought that this scene was very powerful, also due to the fact that it directly precedes Almásy's death, and I thought it demonstrated Hana's delicateness just as the text had. 

Although more prevalent in the novel, Hana's character was done justice by the film. I also think it is worth mentioning that Juliette Binoche won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Hana. 

Almásy & Katharine

As I have stressed throughout this post, the film essentially subtracts from almost all of the other characters and focuses chiefly on the relationship between Almásy (Ralph Fiennes) and Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas).

The choice to tell the story through two timelines, Almásy's past, and his time at the villa creates an emphasis on his relationship with Katharine; this is especially important. By focusing on this relationship, the film is able to capitalize on its dramatic and emotional effects.

I'm sure that if you ask most people who have seen the film adaptation, they'll tell you that they sobbed for days after viewing it. This is due to the quality of the depiction of Almásy and Katharine's love story. The film utilizes other characters, mainly Caravaggio and Hana, to prompt the patient to conjure flashbacks that weave together this tragically beautiful story, haunting readers far after they've met the credit screen. 

Please don't take my critique of the film as any indication it isn't worth your while. It won nine academy awards for Pete's sake!

If you've read this far, I applaud your diligence! Look out for my fifth and final post next week,

Colby

Works Cited

Ondaatje, Michael. The English Patient. Vintage Books, 1998.

“The English Patient.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 22 Nov. 1996, www.imdb.com/title/tt0116209/.