Fargo vs. The English Patient

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm trying to make a firm but respectful point regarding my feelings on this subject to both sides, so if you have anything immature or stupid to say, leave it off here. I invite your comments whether you agree or disagree with the Academy's decision to award the Oscar for Best Picture of 1996 to The English Patient over Fargo. In my opinion, this is one of the most colossal errors in the history of the Oscars.

First, let me emphasize to both sides that while I understand how completely different these pictures are, I truly loved both of them. I'm 20 years old, but I'm studying film and have seen nearly 500 films in the past 2 years, and believe me, I have no hesitation in saying there's plenty to enjoy in both films. They are terrific. The characters are well-defined, realistic and have chemistry when appropriate. The stories are complicated, but not to the point where they annoy you, but keep you interested throughout. The camerawork is outstanding. The English Patient really gives you a feel of what it's like to spend a long time in the desert, and Fargo has some of the most frightening cinematography I've seen in a film; making common images appear in a terrifying form (like the statue at the city entrance, for example).

Onto the acting: Juliette Binoche was wonderful as Hana and I was thrilled to see how she won Best Supporting Actress of 1996. I think it is so dreadfully underestimated at how difficult it is for someone to act well in a second language. Binoche is French, and can play American and British as well as any woman I've seen. Her romance with the bomb disposal man was also surprisingly touching sense it didn't have much screen time. Next, there's Ralph Fiennes, who's one of the most underrated actors around. He was great in Schindler's List and Quiz Show before this and in this film, he delivered again. His character was very complex in existing between both timelines of the story; not an easy task. I also found his romance with Kristin Scott Thomas to be moving, but not nearly as much as most fans of this film did. It was acted well, and I thought they had chemistry, but not quite as much as Binoche's character. The one thing I didn't enjoy character-wise was Willem Dafoe's character. I didn't entirely understand exactly what he knew about Fiennes' character until after I saw the film. Dafoe also gives a good performance, but the writing was a bit cluttered around how he connected with the rest of the story

Moving onto Fargo, there is not a flawed performance at all. William H Macy and Steve Buscemi were absolutely electric, because they brought life into two of the most uninteresting professions imaginable for movie characters: criminals and carsalesmen. Criminals have become completely almost completely stale after decades of retarded Steven Segal movies and other stupid derivatives of them. Not to mention carsalesmen rarely get movies made about them. In spite of this, both actors are mesmerizing in every shot onscreen, making seemingly dull moments really vibrate for the audience! Two of my favorite moments are when Buscemi tries to start a conversation in the car with his partner, and when Macy tries to convince his father-in-law to let him deliver the ransom money. But all of this pales in comparison to the true emerald of this film, the Oscar winning Best Actress in 1996, Frances McDormand. I simply could not stop grinning whenever she was onscreen. The dialect, the eye contact, the facial expressions and the delivery of her dialogue were beyond perfect, in fact, I say it's one of the best performances in the history of the cinema. On top of that, Fargo has many additional American touches that distinguish it from the parade of kidnapping movies. For example, I loved how the criminals weren't always in total control, I loved how the Police Chief while very smart, was also very naive and even sweet, I love the father-in-law and son-in-law relationship that's examined more closely than most films, or the sweet realization of loving couple starting to age. All of this was beautifully woven into the complex storyline of Fargo, and to top it all off, who the hell can forget the woodchip scene?

In summation, I'm sorry I wrote so much, but again, I'm reaching out to intelligent people who love movies like I do, and I want to emphasize AGAIN that both movies are well worth seeing. The English Patient is well acted, heart warming, beautifully photographed and has a profound sense of place in the desert rivaling even Lawrence of Arabia in that regard. It's a very good film. Fargo is outstandingly well acted, has a beautiful character chemistry consisting of half a dozen characters (English Patient only had 3 that were well done IMO), marvelous cinematography, and such beautiful moments of quiet, that it goes from a great film, into a masterpiece. The English Patient is well done but I say Fargo stands far superior by comparison, and I'm really appalled that the Academy overlooked Fargo while giving The English Patient no fewer than 9 Oscars. I think they should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. They almost always get it wrong, but this one was so outrageous it made me cringe.

What are your thoughts? Regardless of your opinions, I'd like to hear.