Love in War
Love is a theme of this film, but it is greatly enhanced by the backdrop of the second great war. We see Laszlo and Katharine fall in love despite her marriage to Geoffrey. The connection of the affair to war is that no one wins in a war and an affair itself is a war where many battles and betrayals are had. We also see Hana and Kip's romance begin towards the end of the war. Their story is has the same backdrop, but there's is one of loss as both of them lose people they love greatly. Their metaphorical war is one of overcoming the great losses that they have suffered due to the war in order to once again find love and live a full life.
Identity
Throughout most of the film we see David with Laszlo, as he attempts to unearth the true identity of the man who lies before him covered in burns. He seeks to find out who he is in order to kill him as he believes he is the man who gave away the map for soliders to get through which caused him to lose his thumbs. He wants Laszlo to admit who he is in order to kill him.
We later see Laszlo be mistaken as an enemy by soliders after he walks 3 days in order to get help for Katharine as she lays dying in a cave. He is thought to be an enemy because his name is not English. When he tells this story to David he can't kill him anymore because he knows now who he truly is.
The Desert
The desert becomes a character in this film as it ignites a great love between Laszlo and Katharine. "The heart is an organ of fire," he says. And where the desert ignited his heart to be on fire for her it also is the place that stole his heart. The desert is a baron wasteland where nothing new can grow. Thus because their love began here it represents that it cannot grow. And we see this is true as they attempt to love one another beyond the desert and it does not work. When Katharine returns to Laszlo it is in the desert. She crashes into the sand filled earth with her husband who kills himself by taking their plane down. Laszlo and Katharine are now together, but with a broken ankle and ribs she cannot make it out of the desert and though Laszlo valiantly attempts to rescue her he is too late. Thus he carries her lifeless body out of the sandy pit and he has become one of the walking dead as his heart's flame was put out on this day.
