Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Plot synopsis:
The story begins with Dr. Iannis, an experienced and multilingual doctor who has a well-established practice on the Greek island of Cephallonia. Iannis lives with his daughter Pelagia; Pelagia's mother died of tuberculosis when Pelagia was still a girl. Pelagia, now a young woman, is headstrong and intelligent, and has learned about medicine by observing her father. Some of the subsequent chapters, however, are told from the perspective of Carlo Guercio, a homosexual Italian man who has decided to join the Italian army which has been raised under the rule of Benito Mussolini during World War II.
Pelagia meets a young fisherman named Mandras, and they rapidly become engaged. Meanwhile, war has been declared, and Mandras decides to go fight at the front. Pelagia's letters to him go unanswered. Carlo Guercio fights among the Italian forces that invade Albania, and watches his beloved friend Francisco be shot by the defending Greek army. The Italian army is hopelessly incompetent, and eventually German forces arrive and drive back the Greek army, thus paving the way for Italy to occupy Greece.
In 1941, following the Italian invasion of Greece, Italian and German soldiers are posted to Cephallonia, where they are ostracized by the locals. Pelagia is determined to hate them, especially when a jovial young captain by the name of Antonio Corelli is assigned to live in her home. Mandras comes home from the war, injured and filthy, and as Pelagia nurses him she realizes that she no longer loves him. He admits that he is illiterate, which explains why he never answered Pelagia's letters. Soon after he is recovered, Mandras leaves again to join the underground. Pelagia gradually comes to know Corelli, and discovers that he is conscientious, civilised, humorous and far from fanatical, as well as being a consummate mandolin player. They inevitably fall in love, and become engaged, Pelagia being convinced that Mandras has died.
After Mussolini loses power, Italy joins forces with the Allies. The Italians who occupy Greece thus are freed from their duties. However, the Italian army refuses to be disarmed by the Germans, and instead fight them. After defeating the Italian division, the German soldiers on Cephallonia turn on the Italians, and order a massive execution. Corelli's life is saved by Carlo Guercio, who shields him with his body when they face execution by firing squad. Guercio dies, and the wounded Corelli is aided by a Greek man back to Pelagia's house. Corelli has to stay hidden from the German soldiers, whose orders are to kill any surviving Italians. As soon as he is well enough, Corelli escapes to Italy, promising Pelagia that he will return as soon as the war ends and then they will be married. Corelli leaves Antonia, his mandolin, with Pelagia for safekeeping. The Germans become brutal, and Dr Iannis is sent to a camp. Mandras returns, indoctrinated with Communist ideologies and having learned to read. He has read Pelagia's letters and knows that she does not love him, so he tries to rape her. Ashamed, he later commits suicide. Some time after, a baby girl is left on Pelagia's doorstep, whom Pelagia adopts. Dr Iannis comes home traumatised. Life goes on in Cephallonia, though interrupted by the 1953 Ionian earthquake, in which Iannis dies. Yet Corelli does not return, though Pelagia is convinced she sees his ghost. The baby girl, whom Pelagia has named Antonia, grows up and marries.
Many years later, an old man visits Pelagia, who is revealed to be Antonio Corelli, now a famous mandolin player. He explains that he did not visit before because, having seen her with baby Antonia on her doorstep and believing her to be married, he was bitter. The novel ends on a happy note.
=== Major themes ===
Captain Corelli's Mandolin explores many varieties of love. We see the initial lust-based love between Pelagia and Mandras, which burns out as a result of the war, and the change it prompts in both of them. Corelli and Pelagia's slow-developing love is the central focus of the novel. Love is described by Dr Iannis as "what is left when the passion has gone", and it certainly appears that this criterion is fulfilled by the love of Corelli and Pelagia. The paternal love of Iannis for Pelagia is also strong and is heavily compared and contrasted to that of Corelli.
The theme of music is predominant, offering a direct contrast to the horror and destruction that the war brings and showing how something beautiful can arise from something horrible.
The war is described in graphic detail, particularly the death of Francesco. It is responsible for the fall of Mandras and Weber, the deaths of Carlo and Francesco, and the separation of Pelagia and Corelli.
Throughout the novel, Bernières takes a harsh view of all forms of totalitarianism, condemning Fascism, Nazism, and Communism alike. Bernières himself described this as a novel about "what happens to the little people when megalomaniacs get busy."
Another theme of the novel is the study of history. Dr Iannis spends much of his spare time attempting to write a history of Cephallonia, but he often finds his personal feelings and biasses running through whatever he writes. There is also a strong feeling against 'professional' history, which is suggested by Carlo Guercio's statement that "I know that if we [the Axis] win then there will be stories about mass graves in London and vice versa". This is reinforced by a quotation from Bernières which says that: "history ought to be made up of the stories of ordinary people only." From this viewpoint, it can be seen that Bernières is very much a revisionist historian, considering social history superior to political history.
Bernières takes an ambiguous attitude towards heroism and villainy in the novel: many of the characters, despite committing atrocities, are viewed as human victims of bad circumstances. For example, the character Günter Weber receives a great degree of sympathy from the writer, even though he fully engages with the Nazi ideology and is guilty of taking part in the killing of an entire Italian division. Despite having become friends with many of the men, Weber must follow orders. Similarly, Mandras is guilty of murder, torture, and rape, yet the author portrays him sympathetically: "just another life tarnished... by war."
=== Major characters ===
Dr. Iannis – The island's unofficial, unlicensed doctor, who spends much of his time writing about the history of Cephallonia. He is respected by the community, although regarded as a bit odd, and is thanked for his medical services by means of food and drink.
Pelagia – Dr Iannis's daughter, who is not like the other women on the island (she is well educated and has a lot of respect from her father), who at first falls in love with Mandras, then later with Corelli.
Antonio Corelli – An Italian captain with a love of music and life. He detests the war and gradually falls in love with Pelagia; but the war inevitably tears them apart again.
Mandras – A young, handsome fisherman who falls in love with Pelagia, only to destroy their relationship by going to fight in the war, and ultimately humiliating himself.
Carlo Piero Guercio – A good-natured homosexual Italian soldier who falls in love with Francesco only to lose him to the war. He later falls in love with Corelli and sacrifices his life to save the Captain's.

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
What's left of it in the film is inexplicable romance -- as other reviewers have remarked, it's unclear why she falls in love with the italian while her betrothed is still around, and I have no idea why this was changed from the book -- and some gratuitous gunning and bombing scenes, more than in the book which derives its power from not hammering on the obvious points.
Still, the plusses (John Toll's magnificent cinematography, Stephen Warbeck's great score, etc) I felt did not outweigh my initial negatives (Cage's miscasting, a heavily diluted script).But, two days later, I was queuing again to see Corelli, and although not perfect, I have to admit now that the movie is the best anyone could have expected.
Cage is actually brilliant in a role that even de Berniere was concerned was not a fully rounded character: his carefree spirit which gives way to shattered remorse is spot on, and complements the superb double act of Penelope Cruz and John Hurt perfectly.
And the fine Greco-Italian supporting cast bring de Berniere's sundrenched world of Cepholonia dazzlingly alive.On leaving the cinema second time around, I finally let go my passion for the novel which prevented me from fully appreciating the story of WW2 Cepholonia in cinematic terms.
My hat goes off to John Madden who, despite the almost expected critical drubbing he is receiving from the British critics (any director who has had a major success like Shakespeare in Love behind them is always a target for these moaning ninnies!),has managed to transfer a terrifically difficult book to the big screen with such heart, verve and humanity (the core virtues of the novel, in fact) that he has created another classic love story that will probably only be fully appreciated when the dust has settled a few years from now.If you are a fan of the book, like me, it's hard, but try not to make the same mistake on your initial viewing.
Try to erase the book from your mind for two hours, bathe yourself in the glorious Mediterranean atmosphere, and discover Corelli, Pelagia, Mandras, Dr Iannis, as if for the first time (pretend you're watching something made from an original screenplay), and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
When fight he must, Cage switches gears seamlessly into a man of fierce principle and resolve and somehow remains believable in both personas.Penelope Cruz, whom the camera loves, gives an uninspired performance as Pelagia.
She allows the character to be objectified as Corelli's love interest rather than establishing her as a powerful character in her own right.John Hurt gives a fantastic performance as the wise old doctor, who knows as much about human nature as medicine.
After a somewhat slow start I thought this movie about the Italian occupation of a Greek island during World War II picked up and became a quite enjoyable watch for a couple of hours, from primarily two points of view.
After German intervention, Greece is conquered and the island Pelagia lives on comes under Italian occupation, during which Pelagia meets and begins to fall in love with Captain Corelli (Nicholas Cage.) This, of course, was a dilemma that came to many young women in occupied lands.
I have heard the true history from my relatives that still live in Cephalonia, but when watching the movie and reading the book the sketchy bits of history were filled.
If you haven't seen the movie go and watch it and read the book, it is not only a love story, and yes, there were plenty of Italians in love with Cephallonian women, in fact, boat loads of Cephallonian women were taken to Italy after the war, it is a true depiction of history..
The film is set against the backdrop of a war between the Germans and Italians in a Greek island but the war is given less significance and what we see appears very sketchy.
Where acting is concerned, Penelope Cruz can't seem to lose her Spanish accent (she's playing a Greek character) but her performance is otherwise wonderful.
Captain Corelli's mandolin is a romance story in war time (WWII) and the plot which I was noticed about before watch the movie seemed very interesting to me.
What I mean by this is that I expected a story a bit more realistic and with a stronger plot (which was not full of "plot holes" as this one is!) instead of this "sweet story romance, with the perfect ending", which we're used to watch in a great part of Hollywood's movies!
Nicolas Cage, as the unconvincing Italian captain who is more attuned to singing than warfare, demonstrates quite admirably that this is the sort of film he should leave well alone.
Penelope Cruz, as the Greek girl betrothed to another but who falls in love with Cage is slightly better, but not enough to lift this bland and syrupy film above mediocrity.
After reading a number of reviews before the release, it sounded like a genuinely nice film, one that was beautifully filmed and one with an interesting cast (Nicholas Cage, Penelope Cruz and John Hurt.)Well, it might have been all of those things BUT it is so boring that I defy almost anyone to sit through this in its entirety and keep attention.
'Disappointing" seems to be the most-often word used by reviewers here to describe this film, and I totally agree.I guess it didn't take long for word to get out about how bad this movie was because, like Cage's accent, it did not do well..
If you want to make a schlocky love movie with Nicholas Cage affecting a risible Italian accent like out of some Little Cesar's Pizza commercial, be my guest.
But please show some respect and don't base it on a real tragedy, the bloody German-Italian occupation of Greece in the Second World War and the 1943 massacre of 9000 Italian troops by the Germans.To be fair to the movie, Penelope Cruz does her usual excellent job of playing an attractive girl who painfully holds out against her romantic feelings before eventually giving in to love.
Pelagia and her father find themselves housing Italian Captain Corelli, who loves music and is charming.
While Pelagia hates Italians and loves her husband she finds herself falling for the Captain over time.At the time of release there was plenty of dating couple who went to see this film and there was also a boost in the tourist trade in Greece, accompanied by lots of television travel programmes talking about the islands and the film.
Ignoring this (as many who have not read the book will be able to) the film is just like the landscape  sweeping, easy on the eye, nice and ultimately quite unmemorable.This explains why it was a popular date movie or, to use that expression I generally dislike, chick-flick.
Cruz is fairly bland and doesn't bring a great deal to the film other that her looks (which personally don't appeal to me that much) and Christian Bale is given little to do considering how good an actor he is generally.
Hurt is good value as always and the support cast fill in the gaps well even if few of them have anything approaching what could be called a character.Overall this is a sweet film that turns bitter for the final quarter of it's running time  a change in mood that is quite difficult when it occurs due to it's suddenness.
with maybe the exception of john hurt and morrissey ( although his role is badly written) Nicholas Cage is totally ridiculous , too old for the part , too " American" and penelope cruz just cant act !
It looked like it was filmed in 3D with richness and depth.The story is touching with good acting all around.
Nicolas Cage plays an amazing Italian Captain, who's first love is music.
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.
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?
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.
I don't know how the book dealt with these characters, but I bet it was a whole lot different!In its favour it did get more interesting by the time those ever reliable bad guys the Nazis moved in but by then I was past caring.A real shame..
Points to Cage and Hurt for some great performances as the suave love-struck Italian and rugged, long-suffering Greek father respectively.The story - okay, a group of opera-singing Italian artillerymen is perhaps not the most natural subject, but the boys could definitely sing; Cage's mandolin playing was haunting and thoroughly believable (I can't believe it wasn't him playing it, in fact).
The story is classic love-triangle material, but a war and a twist keep it interesting.The cinematography was excellent, John Toll showing us the lush Greek Cephallonian landscape.
John Hurt as Pelagia's father and the island doctor is superb, Nicolas Cage does a good job as the Captain from the title, Penelope Cruz does a good job of being beautiful and batting her eyelashes at Cage.
When the Axis finally prevails, with a lot of help from the Germans, a garrison of Italian soldiers is stationed on the island, and Captain Corelli plays a big part in keeping the occupation a peaceful time.
But it is also a war novel, a summary of Greek history, a tale of Communist uprising in post-war Greece, a portrait of the madness of Mussolini, and, most importantly, an ode to island life on Kefalonia.Some of these elements return in the movie, but in general, it is an impossible book to film.
nicolas cage has one expression & tone throughout the movie and penelope cruz has none.the story in many parts was very predictable and stale.
Wonderful film with fine performances especially by John hurt and Nicolas Cage..Penelope Cruz put in a specially fine performance.
You truly felt like you were in Greece in that era..The photography and location shots were fabulous..the portrayal of the italian soldier was truly on the mark ..These men had never seen battle and looked upon the war as a lark..Remember Pearl Harbor and how the common sailor acted...The turning point from this attitude to one of reality was handled well..The romance between Cage and Cruz was handled delicately Since when can you no longer have a romance in a film.
In ignoring them (e.g. the priest's role initially as a buffoon, but later as a spiritual leader, the fiancee's inability to read until taught by a socialist rebel, the bomb experts advice to Corelli and his eventual ironic demise), the story and characters fall flat.This was the first movie that I've ever walked out of midway through.
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).
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.
The war scenes were comical, the music was overdone, and Cage, well, let's just say that this is a movie that did not need to be made.
Every single person we see speaks this English-as-a-second-language with precisely the same degree of  proficiency - although Nicholas Cage will every so often utter a word like "signora" or "bella", to confuse matters further.So the absence of subtitled Greek, Italian etc.
People EXPECT a World War Two story set on a Greek island to look superb.
Nicholas Cage's acting is truly awful, he is wooden and yet cheesy at the same time, you cannot fall in love with him the way you can with the literary Captain Corelli.
This adaptation of a famous book tells at the time of WWII, and in the island of Kefalonia, the love triangle between a Greek resistant, his fiancée and a Italian melomane fighter.Saying this, i say it all: The story runs after too many plots and never convinces in one area: A war movie ?
I like romantic stories, but not if almost nothing happens in it.Another reason why I will not see this movie again is because everybody seems to speak the same language, only with a small difference in accents.
This movie is about a war romance between captain Corelli, an Italian artillery officer and a Greek local beauty called Pelagia during the summer and fall of 1943 on the Greek island of Cephallonia.
Corelli is instantly charmed by Pelagia and tries to win her heart by playing on his mandoline.The movie portrays quite historical the way to disaster of the 12.000 strong Italian Acqui Division and its East-front battle hardened commander general Gandin.
If you don't know the book and how gripping the story unfolds then you might think that this is a good movie.
Mandras' character is completely different - Corelli's friend Carlo is neglected - The faked accent of Nicholas Cage is completely unnecessary and ridiculous - Pelagia's father's fate is adapted - the ending is completely re-arrangedTherefore, the film should have a different name not to confuse the audience with the book with the same name..
At first I thought the movie would be OK- most of the acting was decent (save for Nicholas Cage's embarrassing Italian accent- I half expected him to tell Pelagia "I want to suck your blood"), the island the characters lived on was beautiful, and the plot seemed like it could be good if it was done right.
I waited in anticipation to see how my image of that beautiful Greek island would play out but I was disappointed.I urge anybody who saw the film and thought it was pretty mediocre or even rubbish to seek out Louis de Bernieres astounding novel, read it and see how the story is supposed to be told..
I was disappointed.The most fitting word to describe this movie is probably "Petty."  The film seems to strive to show how everything that happens on this little Greek island is completely unimportant to everybody involved, but they still act really serious about everything they come across, even when they're supposed to be having fun.
This movie was horrible,the only worst thing than the plot was Nicholas Cages Italian Accent it's like he forgot how to act.
The film's deliberate pace may be the director's way of marking time.Some reviews have criticized Cage's Italian accent.
This is were Captain Corelli arrives (Cage) with his mandolin, and falls in love with Cruz.
On a remote Greek island invaded first by liberal (or inept) Italian soldiers then by a big bad German army, everybody speak English for the sake of the American audience who still feels deeply embarrassed when Nicholas Cage (seemingly speaking some Greek, we assume) is the go-between during a `surrender' ceremony: he reads the Greek text from the island official, translates it into Italian, I mean English, then goes get a German soldier who doesn't appear to be disturbed by any language barrier (actually, does the German soldier speak Italian, German or Greek: only his director could tell).The rhythm of the film gives you the feeling that we're dealing with several different stories seemingly directed by different people then spliced together by a team of editors who thought that adding a totally irrelevant earthquake at the end would move us For those of us still awake, it just confirmed that the filmmakers had no idea how to kill time.
Third person in the relationship?Captain Corelli has something more to offer, stunning view ofGreece, melodious musicals, and a piece of fairy tale.So here we are, struggling between historical events about theGerman and Italian affair over Cephallonia, we can see PenelopeCruz is in love with Christian Bale, then later falls for Nic Cage.This all seems to be a usual story, but not without John Hurt.
The bomb in this war-time movie was Nicholas Cage.
Sandwiching a love story between Pelagia (Penelope Cruz) and Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicolas Cage), Pelegia's father-physician (John Hurt) removes an ear blockage from a patient at the movie's beginning and is asked to replace it at the end.
But then her father, played by Hurt who is the only watchable guy in the movie, lets an Italian Opera soldier (is that what you'd call this contradiction of a man) played by Nicolas cage with Italian accent and all, inter her home.
Penélope Cruz's character Pelagia is convincingly filmed, but when she talks, I don't know what comes out, she isn't even trying to do a Greek accent.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is one of Nicolas Cage's better films.