Simply A Masterpiece

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It's 1940 Greece. Cephallonia is an island of traditions. Pelagia (Penélope Cruz) is the daughter of Dr. Iannis (John Hurt) and girlfriend to childish fisherman Mandras (Christian Bale). Fighting breaks out between Greece and Italy. Mandras goes off to war vowing to marry Pelagia upon his return. The Axis forces march onto the island with no resistance. Italian Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicolas Cage) and his men never fire a shot. Mandras returns terribly injured and then joins the partisans. Despite initial hatred, Pelagia falls for Corelli and his mandolin. Captain Günther Weber (David Morrissey) is the awkward German trying to befriend Corelli. When Italy surrenders, allegiances change.The Anglo-American lead actors strip away the Mediterranean heat. Cage is playing up the quirkiness unnecessarily. Bale can never pass for an islander. Everybody is doing an accent. There is no chemistry between anybody. Cruz is left with no worthy dance partner. There are no compelling relationships and the movie suffers. It's a warmed-up wartime period piece romance.

I voted two instead of zero because the island is wonderful and I grudgingly admit that I really appreciated the camera. But story-wise? Why the hell did they even bother using the name of the book when the only thing they used was names and a very, very crude initial settings? The amazing transformation of Mandras from every-day village lad to the bottom pit of human scum - gone. Carlo, a whole storyline of beauty, sorrow and prevailing humanity - reduced to twenty seconds of valiant dying that leaves us wondering why (and why the hell so long?). The book was about life first and foremost, and all its aspects - love, death, survival, cruelty, kindness, nonsense and magic etc. This movie is a weird watered down love story of a highly improbable Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz (who's actually OK despite her Spanish accent :-) ) with all the rawness and irresistibility of the forces of the human heart and twisted minds vanished. I was left wondering why the hell did they even fall in love, I didn't feel their love at all, the movie was full of loose ends and weirdnesses - what the hell was Mandras doing popping in and out all the time? Meaningful parts of the book were discarded while bullshit and inconsistent though nicely hollywoody passages added... OK, it is a bitter diatribe but I actually registered IMDb to voice my disgust, so there you go. If you didn't read the book and liked the movie, read the book, you'll be blown over. If you didn't read the book and hated the movie, read the book, you'll be blown over. Howgh.

OK, so what really, really frustrates me about this movie is that it could actually have been great. Let me start by saying that the book engaged me to the point where I got so frustrated with the two central characters - Captain Corelli and Pelagia - that I actually hurled the book at the wall. Rarely has any book touched me so deeply. You really get to know and love the characters. Therefore, to try and incorporate the book into just over two hours is just insane, as for one thing, you don't get the scale of this love affair which goes on over decades. When I found out that Nic Cage was to play the Captain, I was thrilled. When I then found out that Christian Bale was to play Mandras, John Hurt to play Pelagia's father and David Morrissey to play Weber, I was ecstatic and couldn't wait for the film to be completed. Effectively, all the right ingredients were there for this to be a classic. When I subsequently went to see the film, I was underwhelmed, annoyed and disappointed. The film actually looks beautiful but it only has about half the story in it. The development of the Carlos' character is sadly lacking. Major liberties have been taken with some of the central events in the book. For me, this should have been at least 200 minutes long in order to adequately do justice to the book. A Greek tragedy but not in the right way.

"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" confuses more often than entertains. Although I haven't read Louis de Bernieres's World War II-era bestseller, I know enough about the changes to recognize the shortcomings of director John Madden's leaden movie adaptation. Audiences may remember this English director best for his 1999 Oscar-winning comedy "Shakespeare in Love." Personally, I enjoyed Madden's earlier effort "Mrs. Brown" (1997), starring Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. Nevertheless, if good looks guaranteed great cinema, "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" would qualify as spectacular. Lensed on location in scenic Greece by two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer John ("Braveheart") Toll, this ambitious but abominable Nicholas Cage & Penelope Cruz wartime tearjerker is easier on the eyes than the ears. Aside from establishing a concrete sense of setting and atmosphere, Madden and scenarist Shawn ("A World Apart") Slovo have butchered Bernieres's novel so that it emerges in bites and incomprehensible pieces. Incredibly, Madden and Slovo let the action veer erratically between comedy and tragedy with an indifferent romance at the heart handicapped by a curious lack of chemistry. Complaints about miscasting may arise in the minds of some moviegoers. Nicholas Cage's insufferably sweet, Puccini-loving, mandolin-strumming Italian artillery captain is almost enough to give Fascism a good name. Meanwhile, nothing good comes of Cage's ersatz Chico Marx accent. Actually, Sylvester Stallone would have been convincing in this role. If poor dialects irritate you, prepare for a veritable cacophony. English supporting actor John Hurt, Iberian beauty Penelope Cruz, and Welsh leading man/villain Christian Bale all sound and look out-of-place alongside Greek native Irene Papas. Purists will most likely skip this Zorba the Greek meets "The English Patient," not only for its inconsistent babble of accents but also for its mishmash of historical revisionism, not to mention its pallid plot."Captain Corelli's Mandolin" unfolds on the idyllic Greek isle of Cephallonia in 1940. A wise old local physician, Dr. Iannis (John Hurt of "Alien"), who has been compiling a history of the island and its earthquakes, narrates this yarn. He lives outside the village with his grown-up, headstrong daughter Pelagia (Penelope Cruz of "Blow") in a small mountainside home. A brawny fisherman called Mandras (Christian Bale of "Shaft") wins Pelagia's heart with his rough and tough ways. Her crusty old mustached father warns her from the start: "I would expect you to marry a foreigner." According to him, Greek men dominate their wives, and Mandras is "not her equal." When Mussolini invades Albania, Mandras and she get engaged. He ships out to fight the Italians. Pelagia pens dozens of letters, but Mandras never sends a reply. Later, we learn about Mandras's illiteracy. Perhaps Pelagia's father knows best. Anyway, this revelation smells like a plot contrivance. How could a bright, well-educated girl like Pelagia overlook such an obvious fact? She serves as her father's nurse and aspires to be a doctor herself. Doctors are trained to observe, so Pelagia should have known. Furthermore, neither Mandras nor Pelagia appear as if they were made for each other. One flirtatious splash in the Mediterranean doesn't a romance make. Madden doesn't pump up the passion between these two. Sadly, Bale and Cruz make an unpersuasive couple. Meanwhile, Madden has given audiences the village tour and introduced its citizenry. Dr. Iannis wields a fishhook to extract a dried pea from a man's ear canal. Although his hearing has been restored miraculously, the husband dreads a future where he must endure his wife's constant complaints. This joke serves as a bookend of sorts that opens and concludes the film. Suddenly, the skies erupt with military aircraft and parachutes blossom. Mussolini's Fascist troops have come to occupy Cephallonia and ships pour in more men and equipment.When Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicholas Cage of "The Family Man") lays eyes on Pelagia, her beauty overwhelms him. "Bella bambina!" He exclaims and orders his platoon to glance in her direction. Initially, true to the romance formula, Pelagia wants nothing to do with Corelli. She regards the Italians with fear and loathing. Corelli is not only an artillery captain but also serves as a translator. The scene in the town square when the Greeks refuse to surrender to the Italians, preferring instead the Nazis, deserves a lusty laugh. Later, the Italians decide to billet their officer elsewhere. The Italian Army quartermaster makes arrangements with Dr. Iannis to board Corelli. Pelagia hates these arrangements, until the captain captivates her with his mandolin.Gradually, Pelagia's glacial attitude melts, and she falls in love with Corelli, even after her betrothed returns to the island and joins the Greek partisans. Mandras's mother Drosoula (Irene Papas of TV's "Homer's Odyssey") is not happy about this new arrangement. The Cage & Cruz romance kindles few sparks. A more meaningful but tragic romance occurs between a so-called good Nazi officer, Captain Gunter Weber (David Morrissey of "Hilary and Jackie") and another island girl. Although Madden shows the Italians firing their artillery, this bunch of guys heads to the beach to guzzle wine and warble Verdi operas to their prostitutes. At first, everything seems great when our protagonists learn that Mussolini has surrendered and the war is over for them. "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" has focused primarily on comedy until the Nazis come goose stomping into the action, and everything turns tragic. Sadly, Madden botches both assignments. He cannot stage a decent big battlefield scene, and he fares no better with the intimate romance scenes. If you're looking for a better version of "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," then check out Gabriele Salvatores's "Mediterraneo" (1991) which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. World War II buffs will appreciate the genuine-looking Stuka dive-bombers that rain destruction on Cephallonia. The lack of romantic chemistry, a hopelessly muddled plot, and leaden direction sabotages "Captain Corelli's Mandolin,"and it fade outs on a whimper rather than a bang of jubilation.