Better than I thought.

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2001)

It was obvious to me that this one would be yet another one of those movies Hollywood tries to feed you every once in a while. Based on a generally appreciated book the story is set in 1940 in the beautiful island of Kefalonia (Cephalonia) in Greece and presents life under the Italian, and then German occupation through a generally lighthearted romance between a Greek girl and an Italian captain (yes, that would be Cage).

I was surprised to find out that the movie was *much* better than I thought. Perhaps, if I expected a quality film I'd be very disappointed. The movie combined history with romance in an intriguing way which kept you going until the very last minute. The photography was amazing and the music was subtle and almost unnoticeable at times. Casting could have been better, with Nicholas Cage being anything but an Italian and Penelope Cruz having the tendency to just stand there looking at the camera doing nothing.
I'd probably recommend it to someone who'd like to rent a movie for a night in and looking for something less challenging/heavy than other movies involving war and history.