Spoilers ahead.

As Gen wished, I read The Last Unicorn and oddly, I didn't find it as sad as I had expected. (Where have I said that before? XP) On the contrary, I think it was quite a happy ending. The unicorns were freed, the curse was lifted, the land became fertile again, Haggard no longer existed, Schmendrick got what he's always wanted.

I didn't find it too tragic that the Prince Lir didn't end up with Lady Amalthea, since something the unicorn said early in the book stuck to me. How it was horrible that Nikos did not turn the unicorn he made human back to its original form, as though she never wanted that to happen to her. So it only seemed right (not without a little regret) that she return to her original form and it would be absurd that Prince Lir end up with a unicorn, so I suppose how it ended was just as it should have ended. Not to mention the fact that the love between the prince and the lady seemed only too sudden for me, although I really did feel that they truly truly loved each other.

I think I would have been so much more devastated if she stayed mortal to be with her prince because then she'd eventually die. It was terrible how the Lady's eyes were losing its forest and green leaves and turning into human eyes. It was such a shame to think of the last unicorn becoming human only to waste away in her mortal form. I know...She'll be happy with her prince anyway. But still, I don't know. After all the other unicorns were freed, it should've been all right to have left this one with Prince Lir to lead a happy life, since she was no longer the last anyway, and she did say that she is no longer the unicorn that she used to be because she feels all the human emotions, like regret. But I think as a final act of respect to the unicorn that she was, I guess turning her back into a unicorn was the best thing to do. Because that was what she wanted in the beginning. It's wonderful how you see even their perspectives change as they grow as characters. I think I like this book.

I guess one thing I really liked about this book was that any ending would have been sad, or melancholy or regretful. So somehow it's settling just to accept what ending the author chose for his characters because every other alternative would've left the reader with the same state of emotions anyway...or worse.

But why did she not speak to the prince after everything was over? It would've made him, and us readers, the tiniest bit happier. But I guess she didn't want to feel any more regret than there already was in her immortal heart. She'll have to live with that for eternity. :(

I watched my pirated copy of The English Patient this morning. There were two things I really looked forward to in that film, and both of them didn't appear. :( I was waiting for that scene when Katherine teases Almasy with a "ravish me" right before they got into their fantastic affair. And I was very excited to see how they rendered Kip's sort-of-getaway because of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb. That, to me, was the best part of the book, seasoned with a little personal triumph because it wasn't emphasized in class and I came to appreciate in by myself on my second reading of the book. XD

BUT IT WASN'T IN THE MOVIE.

He was just reposted to Florence and had to leave. Bah.

But the movie wasn't that bad. Kip didn't sleep in a tent as the book explicitly described. Caravaggio wasn't Hana's uncle as he was in Ondaatje's masterpiece. And I expected Kip to be a little more handsome. Hehehe. But nevertheless, it was worth it's Oscar. The English patient was well portrayed, and Katherine was very charming. It tried, I suppose, to be loyal to the book. There's only so much a movie can do. I was disappointed that they chose to emphasize the patient's and Caravaggio's stories, at the expense of Hana's and Kip's, but it's efficient that way I guess, because their stories are more interconnected and related to the desert.

Anyway. It was a good watch.

I've got to cut this short because my folks are making me prepare for lunch.

Leaving for Bacolod tomorrow. :)

Whee~