Captain Corelli's Mandolin Reviews

Think of it as the anti-PEARL HARBOR. Relying more on story and character than special effects, this moving adaptation of Louis de Bernières novel achieves everything that Michael Bay's empty spectacle could not. Greece, 1940: A small Axis force of mostly Italian troops arrives on the civilian island of Cephallonia and informs the mayor (George Kotanidis) that if he doesn't surrender, it will storm the town hall. And when the strongly nationalistic mayor defiantly refuses, the Italian commanders gather in a circle to discuss the matter in the most civil manner imaginable. Chief among the proponents of Italian civility is artillery captain Antonio Corelli (Nicolas Cage). Corelli, a mandolin-playing opera buff, spends his days drilling troops, but during his off-duty hours, he organizes choral groups, befriends both the townsfolk and the chief German officer (David Morrissey), and generally enjoys all the beauty Cephallonia has to offer, including strong-willed Pelagia Iannis (Penélope Cruz). Daughter of the town doctor (John Hurt) and a doctor-in-training herself, Pelagia is engaged to Mandras (Christian Bale), a fisherman who has gone off to war. When Mandras returns from the decimated front to join the local resistance, he's baffled to find Corelli billeted in the Iannis home, acting less like an occupying soldier than a cheerful guest. Pelagia also resents what she considers Corelli's inappropriate joviality, but she understands the pragmatics of peaceful coexistence and gradually comes to realize that Corelli has determinedly kept civilized behavior alive in a war zone. By the time she and Corelli fall in love, Mussolini has surrendered, a German occupying force takes command and the war quite literally hits home. Poetic but never sentimental, and briskly told until the somewhat dragged-out post-war denouement, this drama of life in a crucible deftly weaves the larger theme of civilization's essential fragility with a more personal story concerning one of its foundations: love, whether it be between nations or individuals. The film also speaks of one of the few, noble results of war: the heightened appreciation of life's small pleasures that only the prospect of dying can bring. Imagine pulling that off without schmaltz, and with action-filled war scenes! Cage's uncertain attempt at an accent notwithstanding, the able cast brings these emotionally complex characters to life, while making Shawn Slovo's occasionally lyrical dialogue sound perfectly natural.