Captain Corelli's Mandolin is very meaningful. But that's it!

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2002)

I saw this movie yesterday and thought it was fairly good since it had a pretty fitting title, but I was somewhat disappointed with the acting and the ending. "Capitan Corelli's Mandolin" is a perfect title for this movie, since it tells about the way Capitan Corelli played his mandolin quite well. The mandolin signifies so many things in this movie. For instance, he could have felt happy by playing it for his love Pelagia (Penélope Cruz) or he just wanted to help relieve the tension.
During a war it's obviously quite difficult to be happy or peaceful; this mandolin signifies many things in this movie: love, cleverness, happiness, etc. I think this is why I liked it. This mandolin is very important for Capitan Corelli, since it's his only refuge to show his love, hope, triumph and peace. This movie is very valuable to me and requires a thoughtful watcher. It's the only Nicolas Cage movie I have liked so far.
The plot is well told. John Madden (Shakespeare's in love director) has made another worthy film in which he keeps the viewer interested in knowing what will happen to Capitan Corelli and Pelagia's love after the war; he shows us they could be very happy after the war. Penélope Cruz was appropriate to star as Capitan Corelli's lover. She wasn't that great, but she shows us her good acting skills, even though she's from Spain. She also shows us that people from Spanish speaking countries can be good at acting. Christian Bale played Mandras rather well, it shows us he was also appropriate to play this character; he really did it much better than his earlier role in American Psycho. It's amazing to see him letting Capitan Corelli live after being so hurt by the Germans.
`Capitan Corelli's Mandolin" takes us to Greece in 1940, where the Second World War is going to start. Pelagia (Penélope Cruz) and Mandras (Christian Bale) are in love; they will get married after Mandras returns from fighting for his country. Pelagia meets the Italian Capitan Corelli who is living in her house. Capitan Corelli falls in love with Pelagia and vice versa; however, they know it'll be a frustrated love, since she's engaged with Mandras who is fighting for his country and will come back to marry her. The war takes place and many Italians get killed, and Capitan Corelli gets hurt badly. Overall this is not a bad production, but I'd hoped for much more. 7/10