Baithak

The writer and director Anthony Minghella died last week at the age of fifty-four. I felt I knew him well, although I knew no biographical information about him until I began reading his obituaries. He was the type of director who imparted quite personal feelings and predilections to giant-scale movies based on prestigious novels–a rare thing to achieve. He did this so successfully that one felt one understood his consciousness, his interests, and especially his empathy, simply by watching his work: his films delineate themselves but also delineate a kind of negative-space portrait of the man himself. His life details and circumstances, once you learn them, surprise one not at all. Minghella was one of five children of Italian parents, immigrants to the Isle of Wight who ran an ice cream factory. He was a trained classical pianist, a playwright, a director of opera, and a producer and mentor to other filmmakers (with Sydney Pollack). All this makes sense. [click on the heading for more]

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