patently offensive TRASH (in addition to pathetic film making)

Rating: 1/10 (10 June 2005)

Firstly let me issue a disclaimer by stating that I was born in Greece. That out of the way, and without going into too much detail about Cage's laughably pathetic accent and the over-the-top acting by everyone not named Hurt, I have to focus on the fact that this movie is grossly offensive to Greeks.
Please consider that this movie is based on a book which purports to be based on history. Therefore, I believe that it carries with it a responsibility of staying true (as much as possible) to history. It wasn't just a context/backdrop for a story, it was *history*. And if the knee-jerk defense is "well, it's the book at fault, not the film", then I castigate the story as a whole: film/screenplay/book.
My mother read the book on which the film is based, and was so thoroughly offended by its bias that she had to put it down 2/3 of the way through. Upon hearing that the author got a lot of flak for stretching some truths and outright fictionalizing some very important historical elements, and that the screenplay toned these down to be more historically faithful, we thought to go see the film and see if it did a better job.
I was so put off by the film that I left before it ended. Rather than give you a laundry list of historical inaccuracies (you can find those anywhere on the web through a google search), I want to state that the way they portrayed the Italian military/occupiers in the film as peace-loving, song-loving, wine and dance-loving romantics, although they were part of the AXIS powers (remember, Hitler? Nazis? that whole thing?) was ridiculous, especially when contrasted with the way they portrayed the Greek resistance fighters (among whom my grandfather was counted as one) as brutish, glowering, violent animals...it was nauseating. The Greeks were INVADED and were protecting their home. The film seemed to portray a more sympathetic picture of the Italians when they were 'betrayed' by the Nazis than it did of the Greeks for protecting their home in the first place.
How would we as Americans feel if we went to a movie about the Revolutionary War, and saw the British portrayed as peace-loving heroes and the minutemen and revolutionaries portrayed as murderous, brutish thugs? Yes, I'm aware there was fighting and guerrilla tactics; it's not about the actions taken so much as the light in which they're depicted. And, personally, I think that would be more defensible as a film because the Colonies were rebels, and England was trying to protect her interests, as opposed to a free/independent nation being invaded and occupied and then trying to defend itself. This film really tried to slant the audience into sympathizing with the invaders, instead of (at the very least) just portraying what happened, or perhaps even (gasp) generate sympathy for the invaded.
So yes, the movie does the Greek countryside some justice, and may be pretty to look at on some level, but most of the critics of the film (as a piece of film-making) are SPOT on, and I add a personal note of extreme umbrage at the license taken in portraying the Greeks as virtually without any honor at all and of the Italians as virtual heroes. Book and movie both offensive historically, and movie offensive cinematic ally as well.
Trash.