No thanks

Did Ondaatje Deal Too Leniently with the Historical Count Almasy?


In the December 6, 1996 edition of The Globe and Mail, an article was published written by Elizabeth Pathy Salett, the president of the National MultiCultural Institute in Washington. In this article Ms. Salett alleged that the film The English Patient was “amoral and ahistorical”. Salett, whose family’s safety was threatened during World War II by Count Laszlo de Almasy, the real-life figure whom Michael Ondaatje based the protagonist of his book, accused the film of portraying Almasy as “an accidental spy responding to personal tragedy,” and not as the “committed Nazi collaborator” she argues he actually was. Did in fact Ondaatje dealt too leniently with the historical Count Almasy? In my opinion, no. How can Ms. Salett possibly expect an author to please his entire audience? Besides, The English Patient is in no way a history lesson nor is it a documentary. If it wasn’t for Ms. Salett’s article,...