The English Patient

Factual error: Prochnow is addressed as "Major," in English, but he wears the collar tabs of an SS lieutenant colonel. He should've been addressed as "Obersturmbannfuhrer," or, in English, as "Colonel," because lieutenant colonels are acceptably addressed as "Colonel," as are full colonels.

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Suggested correction: Obersturmbannfuher is also incorrect. The single oak leaf on each lapel of the uniform is the insignia for a full Colonel or Standartenführer. Therefore it would be acceptable to address him as Colonel because that is his rank.

This isn't a valid correction because you're agreeing he was called by the wrong rank. If you disagree with the word and want to make the entry more clear, do a word change.

Bishop73

Other mistake: When Juliette Binoche departs from the ambulance convoy to take the burned Fiennes into the Italian monastery, she asks her commanding officer to give her a lot of morphine and a pistol. Binoche is never seen with a pistol after that. It would be absolutely necessary for a lone Army nurse to have a side-arm in a war zone.

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Suggested correction: Nurses and doctors are NEVER armed in combat zones. If they are, they can be legitimately fired upon as combatants. This is a part of the Geneva Convention rules of warfare.

The Geneva Convention regarding this came into being in 1949, after the war. This film is set in WW2. The Geneva conventions also don't ban medical personnel from being armed at all - some do carry sidearms, but they have to be used only for self defence.

Continuity mistake: After Almasy comes out from the desert, he goes to the British soldiers. They offer him a half glass of water. As they hand him the water, there is a scene change, but the water now is a full glass.

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Almásy: How can you ever smile, as if your life hadn't capsized?

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Trivia: When Almasy returns to the cave, he is wearing a German Wehrmacht issue tunic. From a distance, his outfit looks like German Army. However, looking closer, it is completely without insignia (other than plain privates's shoulder insignia). Makes perfect sense that the German Army would most likely not give him a piece of regulation uniform. If this is intentional, it shows perfect sense for detail.

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