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Captain Corelli's Mandolin Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 38 Reviews)

A Love/War Epic Saga to Rival the Best of Them
This film belongs next to "Casablanca", "Gone with the Wind", "The English Patient" and a few other films which depict scenes of war and the struggle for human survival along with some tension between a specific man and woman that eventually leads to a passionate love affair. In most great films which include romance, questions arise whether or not the relationship can stand the test of time and become the one which both will forever remember as the greatest love affair in their lives, possibly the one leading to marriage, to be recalled as the best years, when looking back from the future. Nicholas Cage plays the leading man, Captain Corelli and Penelope Cruz is portrayed as Pellagia, his love interest. Each is superbly cast. Each brings a realistic style and emotional depth to their respective roles. Each interprets the developing relationship and events with honesty and total openness ...

What makes this film particularly unique is the setting of Cephalonia. It is a picture perfect, beautiful lush green island, home to a hearty group of Greeks who had faced many enemies over the centuries and survived, defending their mountain homes ... Another outstanding feature to this film is how it includes both the Italians and Germans who place a foothold on the island, as they prepare to fight the Allies. The Italian troop arrives first, a robust, hearty handsome group of young men, who are classically trained singers and musicians. They often engage in music during their off-time. Some of the officers are housed with the locals which is how Captain Corelli first met Pellagia, the daughter of the local doctor ... By living in the doctor's house, the relationship is mutually beneficial since the doctor can get much needed medical supplies. Capt. Corelli first saw Pellagia in the crowd during their arrival to the island, she watched from the roadside crow., Pellagia stood out and caught his attention with her independence and beauty ...

Prior to the Italians arriving, Pellagia had just become engaged to Mandros, her Greek boyfriend, who was semi-illiterate and a farmer. He volunteered to fight the Germans in northern Greece, he wanted to face the enemy and defend his homeland. Pellagia had no replies to her nearly one hundred letters written to him in which she poured out her love and devotion. He survived but was a somewhat changed man, he had a purpose, to create an underground organization which worked with the Allies. Mandros suspected Captain Corelli had feelings for his fiance; also, Mandros noticed Pellagia was uncertain how to express her conflicting feelings, she was wrestling with deeply hidden thoughts ...

The Germans arrived on Cephalonia and a new type of order and discipline was instituted. However, occasionally social gatherings with the locals was allowed where the populace mixed with their occupiers. At such a festivity, Pellagia danced an astonishing tango with an Italian friend of Corelli's - creating a sensation on the dance floor. It captured everyone's attention except it seems the one whose affections she was trying to attain: Capt. Corelli. Captain Corelli had been assigned to live in their home and when he noticed how uncomfortable it made Pellagia, he volunteered to leave. They had sevearl heated exchanges ... Her father recognized a budding love affair, and encouraged Capt. Corelli to pursue his daughter ...When Captain Corelli played his mandolin and expressed his heartfelt emotions through his instrument, he won over Pellagia.

Unfortunately, the tides of war had turned, the Italians had surrendered to the Allies and the German occupiers have a major problem on their hands. They receive orders to massacre the Italians, although they overtly let them pack and led them to believe they were returning to their homes ... Through an unsual set of circumstances, Capt. Corelli is allowed to live, although he is nearly at death's door. He is nursed back to health by the Greek doctor, while the island rebuilds itself and attempts to return to normalcy once the war is declared over. Capt. Corelli is provided safe passage back to Italy ... Pellagia pursues her studies and becomes a local doctor on the island. Until ... she receives a mysterious package from Italy, which contains a recording of mandolin music, the melody of one which she knows and recognizes. To the satisfaction of most viewers, several years after the war, Capt. Corelli does indeed return to Cephalonia and meets with Pellagia again ... Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

Geek-Italian Love Drama and Tragedy
Agony near the Agean Sea .... when Captain Corelli falls in love with a Greek guerilla fighter's fiancee. Set amidst the breathtaking and riveting backdrop of Greece. Love knows no borders despite the raging of WW2, Greek and Italian loyalties, and engagements and betrothals. Hypnotic to the eye and heart ... will make one wish they too were someone's mandolin.


An outpost of WWII
The story of this movie is fiction, but the events depicted are fact. This makes it a very unconventional war movie, just as HEAD IN THE CLOUDS is an unconventional war movie that explores a different angle of WWII.

Cephallonia is a scenic Greek island in the Mediterranean. Some have argued that it is one-in-the-same island as Ithica, which was Odysseous' home in Homer's epics. It is an island with inhabitants who enjoy the simple wonders that life has to offer.

Like the rest of the world, the island was dragged into the cruel reality of the 2nd world war, during which time it was occupied by both Italy and Nazi Germany.

So far, the movie sounds like it is going to be all about Greek citizens having to cope with the harsh and bitter situation of having their beloved island occupied by foreign armies. Well, yes, it does portray that, but there is an unexpected twist.

After Italy surrenders there is a lot of confusion about their fate. Instead of fighting the allied forces they find themselves having to face off against the Nazis, who don't want to see their arms end up in the hands of the allied coalition or the island's inhabitants.

Such is the backdrop of this movie. What happens from this point is historical fact, not fabricated Hollywood fiction. John Madden, director of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, puts together another stellar movie that is well worth seeing. Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz are noteworthy in their performances.

This film is a must-see for fans of war movies, "different" war movies, World War II and European history.

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