Different to the Book, but still Attractive

Rating: 7/10 (25 June 2004)

Contains spoilers
Victorian novelists frequently contrived implausibly happy endings to their stories in order to meet the expectations of their reading public. The classic example is Charles Dickens's decision to change the ending of 'Great Expectations' because his readers expected the novel to end with the marriage of Pip and Estella. The modern reading public, or at least those of sophisticated tastes, have been conditioned to regard happy endings as false and sentimental, so the modern author of literary fiction is under pressure to contrive implausibly unhappy endings, even to stories that would be improved by a happy one. I have always thought that Louis de Bernieres' otherwise excellent novel provides a good example of this phenomenon; just as its internal logic seems to be leading up to the union of Corelli and Pelagia, the author conjures up a bizarre set of circumstances to frustrate it. Unlike many of those who saw the film after reading the book, therefore, I have no problem with the fact that the filmmakers decided to reverse the novel's ending.
The story is set on the Greek island of Cephalonia during the Second World War. Following the defeat of Greece, Cephalonia is occupied by a detachment of Italian troops. The main plot concerns a romance between the Italian Captain Corelli and Pelagia, the daughter of a local doctor. The first half of the film, which deals with this burgeoning love-affair, is fairly slow moving and gentle, at times even comical, in tone. The second half, however, contains more action and is darker in tone. The fall of Mussolini and the defection of Italy to the Allied side provoke a tragic confrontation between the Italian forces and their erstwhile German allies.
Some simplification of such a complex novel is inevitable when it is transferred to the screen, but quite apart from the change in the film's ending, there were other changes to de Bernieres' plot that worked less well on screen. The main one concerned the character of the fisherman Mandras, Pelagia's former lover whom she jilts in favour of Corelli. In the book, Mandras is a largely unsympathetic character who becomes a fanatical Communist and turns into a violent and arrogant bully. In the film, he is shown as simple and uneducated, but brave and honourable, without ideological motivation except love of his country. The filmmakers do not seem to realize that this change also has implications for the way we see Pelagia. A woman who deserts a gallant resistance hero for an enemy of her country, even if that enemy is on a personal level a likable individual, makes an unlikely romantic heroine. The film is largely devoid of political content; it is perhaps a sign that the Cold War is well and truly over when Hollywood manages to remove the politics from one of the most anti-communist novels of recent times.
The other change I did not like concerned Corelli's friend Carlo who dies saving his life. In the book, Carlo is a major character, but in the film he is a relatively minor one, and all reference to his homosexuality is removed. I felt that this spoil this part of the film, as Carlo's sexuality is important to an understanding of his character and of his motivation for saving Corelli. Another criticism I would have concerns the use of accents; all the actors, whether they were supposed to be playing Italians or Greeks, used virtually indistinguishable assumed 'continental' accents, which meant that it was difficult to differentiate between the two nationalities.
Despite my criticisms, my overall impression of the film was a favorable one. With the exception of the miscast Nicholas Cage who seemed too old and insufficiently vivacious to fit my idea of Corelli, I felt all the main actors played their parts well. The film was visually very attractive, and the photography made good use of the beauty of the scenery of the Ionian islands. Although some of the deeper issues raised by the book have been removed, what remains is still an attractive love-story and in places a moving story of men at war. 7/10.
A couple of goofs:- Rome fell to the Allies in 1944, not 1943 as stated in the film. Mussolini did not surrender to the British and Americans; the surrender was made by the new government of Marshal Badoglio, which was at the time holding Mussolini as a prisoner. I understand that in modern Greek the name Pelagia is pronounced, and more correctly transliterated, as 'Pelayia'; some of the actors used this pronunciation, but others pronounced it incorrectly with a hard 'g'.