Thoughtful and Enjoyable View of Wartime Life

Rating: Null/10 (1 November 2002)

I found the movie to be very well put together -- excellent use of on location settings, believable battle scenes, well-developed characters, and a thorough look at the joyful, sorrowful, evil and tragic aspects of wartime life in an occupied country. It also introduced me to details of a part of history that I hadn't really known before.
I really enjoyed the quirky plot aspects of the entire Italian unit coming from one area, and all being members of the musical organization. I had no problems with the accents or other aspects of actors of various nationalities playing characters of various nationalities -- is there some expert at "accents" anyway?
I thought the emotions and complexities of emotions were well portrayed all around. John Hurt was excellent, but so were all of the actors playing the "lesser" parts. Except for the earthquakes, the movie made me want to go there on my next vacation... About the only aspect of the story that, when you stop to think about it, was unlikely, is that Correlli survived. But then who wants a "down" romantic drama?
The movie celebrates trying to make the most of a bad situation, and it certainly didn't pull any punches as to thinking that "thinking happy thoughts" and singing together can solve all the world's problems. The recent hostilities between the Greeks and the Turks at a soccer match show that some things never change.