''Captain Corelli's Mandolin'' is a 2001

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight playo ...

. It is based on the 1994 novel ''

Captain Corelli's Mandolin ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin'', released simultaneously in the United States as ''Corelli's Mandolin'', is a 1994 novel by the British writer Louis de Bernières, set on the Greek island of Cephalonia during the Italian and German occupation ...

'' by

Louis de Bernières Louis de Bernières (born 8 December 1954) is an English novelist. He is known for his 1994 historical war novel '' Captain Corelli's Mandolin''. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a p ...

. The film pays homage to the thousands of Italian soldiers executed at the

Massacre of the Acqui Division The massacre of the Acqui Division, also known as the Cephalonia massacre, was the mass execution of the soldiers of the Italian 33rd Infantry Division "Acqui" by German soldiers on the island of Cephalonia, Greece, in September 1943, following t ...

by German forces in

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It ...

in September 1943, and to the people of Cephalonia who were killed in the post-war earthquake. The novel's protagonists are portrayed by actors Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz.

Plot

Greece's Ionian Islands are occupied by the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

when it brings a large garrison along with a few Germans to the tranquil island of

, whose inhabitants surrender immediately. Captain Antonio Corelli, an officer of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division, has a jovial personality and a passion for the mandolin, and trains his battery of men (who have never fired a shot) to choral sing. Initially he alienates a number of villagers, including Pelagia, the daughter of the village doctor. She is an educated and strong-willed woman. At first offended by the Italian soldier's behaviour, she slowly warms to Corelli's charm, and mandolin playing, as they are forced to share her father's home after the doctor agrees to put him up in exchange for medical supplies. When Pelagia's fiancé, Mandras, a local fisherman, heads off to war on the mainland, the friendship between Antonio and Pelagia grows. Her beauty and intelligence have captured Corelli's heart, and his fondness for the village's vibrant community has caused him to question his reasons for fighting. Corelli, and his battery of musical troops, becomes a part of the villagers' lives; but the moment is fleeting. As the war grows closer, Antonio and Pelagia are forced to choose between their allegiances and the love they feel for one another. The Italian government surrenders to the Allies, and the Italian troops happily prepare to return home. However, their erstwhile allies, the Germans, insist on disarming them, intemperately and violently. The Greeks are also exposed to the brutality of the incoming Germans, and arrange with the Italians to use their arms in a brief but futile resistance. For this, the German High Command has thousands of the Italian troops shot as traitors. Corelli survives when one of his soldiers shields him from the fusillade of the German executioners' bullets with his body, and falls dead on top of him. Mandras finds Corelli, still alive among the pile of massacred soldiers, and takes him to Pelagia and the doctor for treatment and recovery, and then to a boat to escape the island. As a result of Pelagia's questioning, Mandras admits that he rescued Corelli from the heap of dead soldiers because he wanted to re-kindle their love. But it does no good and the couple part. Earlier, on one of Mandras's return visits to Cephallonia, he admits to Pelagia that the reason he never replied to her many love letters is that he is illiterate. In 1947, Pelagia receives a parcel from Italy containing a record of the tune Corelli wrote for her, but no note. An earthquake destroys much of the village including the doctor's house; but island life continues, and, soon after, Corelli returns to Pelagia.

Cast

* Nicolas Cage as Captain Antonio Corelli * Penélope Cruz as Pelagia * John Hurt as Dr. Yiannis *

Christian Bale Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including ...

as Mandras *

David Morrissey David Mark Joseph Morrissey (born 21 June 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. Described by the British Film Institute as "one of the most versatile English actors of his generation", he is noted for the meticulous preparation and research h ...

as Captain Günther Weber * Irene Papas as Drosoula * Piero Maggio as Carlo * Gerasimos Skiadaressis as Mr. Stamatis * Aspasia Kralli as Mrs. Stamatis * Michael Yannatos as Kokolios * Dimitris Kaberidis as Father Arsenios * Pietro Sarubbi as Velisarios, The Strongman * Viki Maragaki as Eleni, Pelagia's friend * Joanna-Daria Adraktas as Young Lemoni * Ira Tavlaridis as Older Lemoni *

Katerina Didaskalou Katerina Didaskalou (Greek: Κατερίνα Διδασκάλου) (born 29 December 1960 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek theatre, stage, television and film actress. She studied dramatic arts and philosophy in Athens and went on to study cinema and ...

as Lemoni's mother * Emilios Chilakis as Dimitris * Panagis Polichronatos as Partisan *

Patrick Malahide Patrick Gerald Duggan (born 24 March 1945), known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a veteran British film, television and theatre actor, author and producer, known, amongst other things, for his roles as Inspector Alleyn in ''The Inspect ...

as Colonel Johannes Barge * George Kotanidis as Mayor

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $13.8 million in the United Kingdom. The film opened at number six at the US box office, taking in $7,209,345 in its opening weekend and went on to gross $25,543,895 in the United States and Canada. It grossed an additional $22.8 million internationally for a total of $62,112,895 worldwide against a cost of $57 million.

Critical response

The film's plot deviated somewhat from the novel's, with many of the book's tragic episodes softened. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 28% based on reviews from 117 critics, with an average rating of 4.45/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "The cinematography is gorgeous, but the movie plays it fast and loose with history and the novel it was adapted from. Mostly, the movie fails because the romance between the leads strains credulity and the story is largely uninvolving." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Derek Elley of '' Variety'' praised the beautiful on location shoot, but was critical of the film and wrote that it "Strikes too many false notes on the dramatic side to add up to a satisfying emotional experience."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicag ...

'' gave the film 2 out of 4, and suggested the film might have worked better with subtitles, pointing out the absurdity of one scene "where something is said in English pronounced with one accent, and a character asks, ''What did he say?'' and he is told -- in English pronounced with another accent."

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Film) 2001 films 2000s war drama films French war drama films British war drama films American war drama films English-language French films Greek-language films 2000s German-language films 2000s Italian-language films Films directed by John Madden Films scored by Stephen Warbeck Films based on British novels Films set in Axis-occupied Greece Films set in the Mediterranean Sea Films set on islands Films shot in Greece Films set in Greece Working Title Films films StudioCanal films Films produced by Eric Fellner Films produced by Tim Bevan Italian occupation of Greece during World War II 2001 drama films 2000s American films 2000s British films 2000s French films