I'm 27, a freelance hack based in London, where I've lived all my life.
I'm 27, a freelance hack based in London, where I've lived all my life.
Member since:15.12.2000
Reviews:154
Members who trust:129
I wasn't actually burning up to see this film. Its pretty unusual for me to go to the movies at all, let alone to see a film on the day it comes out. But my mother had enjoyed the book so much I thought I'd do the dutiful daughter bit and take her as a surprise, so booked tickets.
Then I read the reviews. They were across-the-board dreadful. They were so bad that some newspapers even wrote news stories about how all the critics really, really hated it. I was not filled with hope. The last time I went to see a film that was really really panned, it was The Avengers, about which there is really nothing good to say at all. I offered to cancel my ticket booking, but ma was having none of it. So off we went.
My first thought now is that maybe going to see a film you expect to be dreadful is actually no bad thing, because if its really not that awful then you're quite pleasantly surprised. Such a film is this movie. I think if I had been expecting a great film, I might have felt a bit let down. As it is, I'm quite upbeat.
So, hands up who doesn't know the plot? We start with a beautiful Greek girl living with her father doctor on a remote island called Cephallonia. Her name is Pelagia and she's engaged to be married to a handsome if laddish local fisherman called Madras. So far, so sunny - but then along comes the second world war and blows everyone's lives apart.
Madras goes
off to war. Pelagia is left behind, writing letter after letter after letter, to which she gets no reply. In the book, Madras goes off to fight in the Greek civil war, but evidently the producers think an American audience cannot cope with more than one war per movie, let alone one they haven't heard of, so in the movie he goes off to fight the Italians in WW2. Which means that later, when he goes off to war again, he goes off to fight the, er, Italians. But hey, if you want historical accuracy, don't go to the cinema.
The island is then occupied by the Italian army, who are of course allies with the Germans at this time. The officers are billeted with local families. Enter Captain Corelli, who is put with Pelagia. And this is where the film really starts to go wrong. First of all, whoever cast Nic Cage should at the absolute least be made to actually read the book - and failing that, shot alongside the scriptwriter, who's managed here to come up with the worst piece of film writing since Titanic. Cage is a very fine actor, but a romantic hero he is not. Every time he sat prettily on a rock strumming his little mandolin I got flashbacks to stuff like Die Hard and wanted to giggle. It doesn't help that he's adopted such a terrible, terrible Italian accent that you keep expecting him to break into Just One Cornetto and produce a gondola. In fact, I can understand why word has it that the Italians are really not very happy with this movie - a more stereotypical portrayal of their nation on celluloid would be hard to find.
Cage is especially shown up by the young Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, here in her first major Hollywood role. She is fabulous, and the film is worth going to see for her alone. She has such a strong, expressive face, and such a clear understanding of her craft, that watching her is a delight. I suspect that if you look at the script she actually says remarkably little out loud, but she is one of those rare actors who can convey more in a glance or the way she walks than some can in an entire soliloquy. The way in which she is torn between the two men, between the passionate, musical Captain and the loyalty and social stigma which binds her to the childhood sweetheart she no longer loves, is something she expresses mostly without saying a word. It's just a shame that the costume designers felt the need to signal in every single scene that she's peasant girl by tying bits of cloth over her hair and making her chop fruit or do rustic things in fields - the poor girl spends the entire movie with a herb basket clutched to her chest as if her life depended on it.
Backing up Cruz is the veteran actor John Hurt, who battles manfully against an extraordinary moustache to portray her aged father. His part is underwritten, but he makes the best of it. The German soldier who betrays his Italian friends is very well played indeed by a British actor - thereby combining Hollywoods two favorite stock villains neatly into one - and the scene where his soldiers massacre his former Italian friends is well done - his horror at what he has to do, battling against his fear of losing face before his men is very clear.
Having said all that, this film does have its moments. The main love story is handled with remarkable restraint by Hollywood standards: there's much more hugging than kissing, and although they clearly drew the line at having the relationship unconsummated as it is in the book, the one love scene is very tastefully done and almost incidental. There are some lovely scenes: the blowing up of the bomb on the beach and the dancing in the square being two of them. It's not a coincidence however that these and the other good bits are all those in which no-one talks. Its hardly surprising that even Cage can't do much with lines like, Senorita, in war we must take every opportunity for innocent pleasure - and it's painful to watch actors of such calibre as Cruz and John Hurt (who plays her father) fighting with such leaden, cliched language. Given the book its based on is so very lyrical, this seems particularly ironic.
What else to say? Only that if you were expecting the complexity and depth of the novel you should have known better. Films by their nature cannot reproduce such things, and the best a book adaptation can do is to take the story and make something completely different from it that is true to the medium - like the English Patient or Trainspotting. Here, the gay sub-plot is ditched, the historical stuff is pushed entirely into the background and the romance is all that really matters - and little is added. Still, it looks pretty enough and when it gets really bad, I recommend just admiring the scenery. Just don't expect your life to be changed.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: John Duigan - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Penelope Cruz
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Brilliant op. I must have been on another planet - I hadn't heard of this film!
Medusa 13.05.2001 14:01
Thank you Imogen, you helped me make my mind up - this is one film I will not miss missing (if you know what I mean). Nic Cage with a bad Italian accent - ouch!!
WhileCaptain Corelli's Mandolinmay frustrate admirers of Louis de Bernières' densely ... more
detailed novel, it provesShakespeare in Lovedirector John Madden is a worthy craftsman of literary films. It's a tastefully old-fashioned adaptation, preserving the no...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
WhileCaptain Corelli's Mandolinmay frustrate admirers of Louis de Bernières' densely ... more
detailed novel, it provesShakespeare in Lovedirector John Madden is a worthy craftsman of literary films. It's a tastefully old-fashioned adaptation, preserving the no...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
With memorable performances from Nicolas Cage (Gone In 60 Seconds, Leaving Las Vegas) and ... more
Penelope Cruz (Blow, All The Pretty Horses), acclaimed director John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) creates breathtaking imagery set amid the Italian occupation of ...
In keeping with Hollywood's time-honored tradition of turning celebrated novels into ... more
cinematic spectacles director John Madden brings Louis de Berniere's acclaimed 1994 work 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' to life. Set on the Greek island of Cephalon...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: The fantastic sceneries, a chance to see Nicholas cage attempt an Italian accent. Disadvantages: A film with qualities that aren't particularly special
![Captain Corelli's Mandolin [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78528381.jpg "Captain Corelli's Mandolin [DVD] [2001]")
May 7th, 2001
(May 5th, 2001)
very helpful by (100%):
