Bethberry - I underestand your post about the ENGLISH PATIENT and the thoughts of the director. I accept that without dispute. J.K. Rowling apparently feels that the POTTER films are faithful to her books, after all she has a role in the process and continues to do film after film and seems quite happy about it. So, yes, it can be done.
It is not my contention or position that you cannot make a movie that is more or less reasonably faithful to its source material. My point is that it is irrevelvant and means nothing to the success or quality of the film as both LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and WIZARD OF OZ show. And I would add the LOTR films to those. Further, it is irrelevant and silly to judge the quality of a film by some imiganary scale of "faithfulness" since the rest of the world cares little about it since it matters not to the final quality of the film.
I am sorry but I cannot due your post justice because I have not read or seen THE ENGLISH PATIENT. I have seen brief snippets of it on cable and - no offense to you - I did not like what I saw very much, and was not inspired to invest any time in it. The infamous SEINFELD episode where Elaine Benis, bored to distraction, screams at the theater crowd watching the film "how can you people watch this stuff" comes to mind. But to each their own.
So please do not take my refusal to join in a discussion of TEP as a sign of disrespect to you or your post. I simply have no idea about it. And it does nothing to impact the point of my post either way.
You did say this in closing
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Jackson didn't make Tolkien more meaningful and understandable, he made him more like George Lucas.
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I see very little in common with Jackson and George Lucas. Lucas clearly cannot direct human beings in any sort of personal interaction and emotional exchange. He has made one good film that does that - AMERICAN GRAFFITI - and the rest are comic books come to life. (THX had some moments) Jackson goes far beyond that and I think that is one reason why he was rewarded with the Oscar while Lucas has only the rewards of the bank account.