Captain Corelli's Mandolin

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HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/b000059qar/reelmoviecriticc">Buy Soundtrack from Amazon.com</A>  <IMG SRC="e8d86590.jpg" border=0 width="134" height="89" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="1156608c0.jpg" border=0 width="96" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00003CXXG/reelmoviecriticc">Buy DVD from Amazon.com</A>  </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Captain Corelli's Mandolin ** ( R )</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Feel something, even if it's only pain</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="299"><div> Captain Corelli: Nicolas Cage</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="274"><div> Pelagia: Penelope Cruz</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="299"><div> Dr. Iannis: John Hurt</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="274"><div> Mandras: Christian Bale</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Captain Gunther: David Morrissey</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="274"><div> Drosoula: Irene Papas</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Lemoni, younger: Joanna-Darla Adraktas</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="274"><div> Director: John Madden</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: A young Greek woman falls in love with an Italian Army Captain while her fiancé is off fighting in the war <I>against</I> the Italians. When the Germans betray their trust and start killing their former allies, the Italians, life on the peaceful island of Cephallonia in Greece turns into a living hell. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> The Greeks are trying to keep WW II from touching their shores by fighting the Italians in Albania. If Albania falls Greece will soon be occupied. On the small island of Cephallonia, life is about to take a turn. Pelagia (Penelope Cruz), the daughter of the local doctor, Dr. Iannis (John Hurt), is in love with Mandras (Christian Bale). They become engaged and Mandras goes off to war in Albania. Conditions in the war are reported to be bitter and after sending 100 letters to Mandras and never hearing a word of response, the door opens for Pelagia to shift her attention to another man under the right set of circumstances. Mandras is a fisherman and Dr. Iannis would prefer that his daughter, who is studying to be a doctor, marry at a more appropriate level, even if it might be a foreigner. </div> <bR> <div> Pelagia is elated when she thinks the Greeks have won the war, after 8,000 Greeks beat over 12,000 Italians. However, as her father tells her, the Germans will not let their ally lose to the Greeks and before long the Italians are occupying Cephallonia along with a small German force led by Captain Gunther (David Morrissey). Captain Corelli (Nicolas Cage) comes into town with his mandolin over his soldier and as soon as Pelagia sees him, an emotional connection is made. </div> <bR> <div> When a high-ranking Italian officer goes to town hall to accept surrender from the island's officials, the mayor will only yield to German authority. He says he'd rather surrender to a German's dog than to the Italians, whom they've beaten in battle. This would seem to create an atmosphere in which these Greek women would be loath to find themselves in circumstances where they could fall in love with an Italian. </div> <bR> <div> Lemoni (Joanna-Darla Adraktas) is the young sister of Mandras and she is very close to Pelagia. The relationship between Pelagia and Mandras's mother, Drosoula (Irene Papas), is strained because of the sensed break up of the engagement. In spite of all the things going against love being born and staying alive, Captain Corelli and Pelagia know that "love will find a way."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: I must admit that I have a bias against films set in foreign countries that feature American actors in leading roles and English is the only language spoken. I find it much harder to accept something as being real when, in this case, Germans, Italians and Greeks are fighting one another and they only speak English. This same syndrome hurt <A HREF="id758.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Enemy At the Gates"><U><I><B>Enemy at the Gates</B></I></U></A><A HREF="id758.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Enemy At the Gates"><U>,</U></A> and it seriously damages this film. </div> <bR> <div> The first part of the film was awful, primarily because I could not accept the Greek women forgetting about their men at war while dancing in the town square with the occupying Italians. One woman even kissed a German and they never even danced. This was not unnoticed by the Greek men and as with women (and men) who consort with the enemy during wartime, a price will be paid. In the film <A HREF="id900.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Malena"><U><I><B>Malena</B></I></U></A><A HREF="id900.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Malena"><U> </U></A>the difference was that the women were prostitutes who slept with the enemy, not someone like the daughter of the town doctor who herself aspires to become a physician. </div> <bR> <div> Pelagia proclaims her love to Mandras by accepting his ring in front of the entire village. Now, because he has not responded to the 100 letters she has written, she is soon ripe to fall in love with Captain Corelli- perhaps because he can sing and play the mandolin? Did the thought ever occur to her that maybe Mandras has been killed? That would account for his not being able to write. She was madly in love with Mandras before he went to war, and although she was engaged to him she never made love to Mandras. But after a little music, a few dances and some eye contact, she is deep in the woods and deep into Captain Corelli.</div> <bR> <div> The film improves considerably during the 40 minutes when the Italians and Greeks start  helping one another as they join forces against the Germans. By this time, the true color of the Nazi's comes to the forefront and there is more logic to the Italians and Greeks moving toward an accommodation with each other. </div> <bR> <div> The film was made entirely on the Greek Island of Cephallonia and it was indeed the type of place where a truce of sorts could exist in the middle of a war. Other than the "dead on arrival" feeling I had in the first two thirds of the film, the last third comes together with the scenery and fine acting by John Hurt, David Morrissey, Irene Papas and the unrecognizable Christian Bale. This saved <I><B>Captain Corelli's Mandolin</B></I> from being a total disappointment. </div> <bR> <div> So that I can end this review on a positive note, if you are a <I>big fan</I> of any of the actors in this film, you just might enjoy the entire two hours. If you like this film and want to see something even better about personal relationships with German occupiers, look for <I><B>Divided We Fall</B></I> at your art house theater when it comes to town-for what will likely be no more than one week. You win both ways.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> R (some violence, sexuality and language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Nicolas Cage: <I><B>Windtalkers</B></I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Penelope Cruz: <I><B>Vanilla Sky</B></I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="286"><div> John Hurt: <A HREF="id940.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone"><U><I><B>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone</B></I></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Christian Bale:<A HREF="id118.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shaft"><U> </U></A><A HREF="id118.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shaft"><U><I><B>Shaft</B></I></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> David Morrissey: <I>Hilary and Jackie</I> </div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Irene Papas: <I>Party</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> John Madden: <I>Shakespeare in Love</I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="286" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>