A mostly enjoyable time at the movies.

Rating: 8/10 (4 September 2001)

The star of this movie was, of course, the island and its beautiful scenery. This is a cinch for best cinematography. Such a beautiful place so beautifully captured on film. I liked most of the plot considering, of course, it was pure fiction which is ok. The love story was predictable but interesting. I did not like the portrayal of the German officer. He was a wimp and whether we like it or not I doubt that any wimp made it to the rank of a German captain during World War II> His portrayal at the surrender ceremony was ridiculour. If a mayor of a Greek town had acted in that manner in real life the German would have known how to handle him and he would not be alone; he would have had a squad of men with him. The mayor using the F word was also ridiculour. Do people in Hollywood think they always have to have this word in every movie they make. The mayor could have been defiant in another way and it is doubtful if the Greeks in 1945 even used the word although they may have had other expletives just as strong. I liked the music in the movie and would have like even more of the mandolin playing. The Italians during World War II were not known to be very adept at fighting so it was rather difficult to accept them as being more interested in making music and first and then turning in the last part of the picture to being expert combat soldiers. I thought it was very unrealistic to have the German soldiers making their assault on the island in modern landing craft similiar to LSTs of World War II> Hey, the U.S. Navy in World War II had the amphibious ships for D-Day and in the Pacific. The Germans did not have that kind of capacility. Yes, they could have landed troops from ships but not the kind shown in the picture. The ending was quite pat, but in the larger sense it was a good ending because like most good Hollywood endings it left you with an upbeat feeling. I gave it an 8 in the review. Maybe I should have given it a 9.