Customer Reviews

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Widescreen)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I loved this movie even though it is a few years old. Great pictures and a nice romance with a bit of reality

This film belongs next to "Casablanca", "Gone with the Wind", "The English Patient" and a few other films which depict war and the struggle for human survival along with some tension between a man and woman that eventually leads to a passionate love affair. In most great films which include romance, the question arises if it can stand the test of time and become the one which will be forever remembered as the greatest love affair in their lives. When looking back from the future, will it be viewed as the greatest one despite the difficulties? 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 crowd. 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 changed man, he now 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 reach: 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 several 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 Pellagia's heart.

Unfortunately, the tides of war had turned, the Italians had surrendered to the Allies and the German occupiers had a major problem on their hands. They received orders to massacre the Italians, although they let them pack and led them to believe they were returning to their homes ... Through an unusual set of circumstances, Capt. Corelli was 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 after 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 again with Pellagia ... Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

I can't stand either Nicolas Cage or Penelope Cruz so I was prepared to hate it. It wasn't as bad as I anticipated but it wasn't great either. Nicolas Cage is a terrible actor and his fake Italian accent was getting on my nerves in a major way. All the Italians in the movie joke around and sing-that all they do. I also couldn't see how they(N and P) fell in love. One day they just were. Yeah, right. I have to add one more thing and its about Penelope's looks. I think with right clothes and makeup she can look decent but in this movie she looks downright horrid. Her hair is done in the most unflattering hairdo on the planet and her clothes look as if she robbed the scarecrow. Whether the look was intentional or accidental is a mystery. The ending was incredibly stupid. He leaves Penelope until the war is over and then doesn't come back until two years later because he feels guilty about coming between her and her fiancé. Give me a break

A confession: I did not read the book. From what I can gather from reviewers, those who did read "Corelli" were sadly disappointed by Hollywood's hatchet job. Whaddja expect?

As for the besotted grognard that I am, and not having been contaminated by prior perusal of that sensitive and romantic novel, I found the DVD "Corelli" to be a passable evening's entertainment, not great, but OK. I happen to be a Nicholas Cage fan, although he is showing signs of overexposure in real turkey movies ("e.g. "Windtalkers") but still shows brilliance in films like "Matchstick Men." He is best when playing eccentric characters ("Raising Arizona") and does less well when confined. "Corelli" is somewhere in between. His Italian accent is OK but along the lines of the old faux Italian restaurant operator in the ad, "Chianti for everybody!" I found Penelope Cruz to be an unconvincing Greek, but how many convincing Greeks are there between Irene Pappas and Anthony Quinn?

The story line is plausible. We see a happy and prosperous Greek fishing village where Penelope Cruz and her physician father live high on a hill above the town. A swarthy but otherwise illiterate young fisherman yens for Cruz but she is hesitant (this is about all we get to know about the dark handsome fisherman, who eventually runs off to join the partisans). Suddenly, the war intervenes and the Italians arrive to take over the town, assisted by a few Germans who are, at this point, non-assertive. (Italy attacked Greece from Albania in the fall of 1940, got pushed back into Albania, and was ultimately bailed out of its embarrassment by German forces in the spring of 1941.)

I suspect that in the book, the Italians are more complex; here, Corelli's artillerymen would rather sing opera and drink wine than tend to their guns. Corelli's guileless charm ultimately wins over Cruz (she likes him, she likes him not) and a young German liaison officer who senses that his Italian allies are great drinking buddies but unreliable. Flash forward to 1943: Italy capitulates to the Allies and attempts (mostly unsuccessfully) to switch sides; Corelli's troops are forcibly detained by the German occupation forces. I will not get into the resulting tragedy, but I liked the treatment of this volatile period for the Italians in WW2. I will not describe what happens to Corelli himself, save that I began to draw uncomfortable parallels to another tear-jerker, "The English Patient."

I found the earthquake scene near the end of the movie stupid. Was this to draw a connection between the natural disaster and manmade disaster that was WW2? Hit me over the head. And why does Corelli stay away so long after the war? It's like the Rafe (Afflick) character in "Pearl Harbor", who disappears while flying overseas with the RAF, and then after many months all he can pen to his girlfriend is a hastily scrawled note, "I am alive." Is the man illiterate? Was he in a coma? They did have telephones. Or Western Union.

OK, so a typical Hollywood romantic war-date movie, worthy of a pizza and some cheap Italian plonk.

If this movie had been an original screenplay, I would think it brilliant, lovely, and wonderful. However, I read the book first (which I absolutely adored) so the story was set in my mind. The movie cut so many scenes that I thought were completely necessary to the plot, and added silly Hollywood scenes in their place. The film relegated major characters in the book (like Carlo Guerccio) to one or two lines in the film. In my opinion, this was a big mistake by the screen writers.

Cage and Cruz played their respective parts well in this film. Cage was funny and quirky like Corelli's character is described in the book, and Cruz honed in on Pelagia's quiet, reserved nature. Christian Bale looked surprisingly Greek in the movie, playing Pelagia's fiancé, Mandras. Although his character in the novel was the complete opposite in the filml, he played the part well. Dr. Iannis was intelligent, kind, and loving, and his character in the film translated the same way.

In conclusion, the movie is good and beautiful, but it pales in the light of the novel. Read the book!

Unless you download their anti-theft software. This software also gets info from your computer (spy bots) and sends it to heaven knows where. You cannot watch the DVD on your computer unless you agree to load the software. I resent that I have to load spy software to watch a movie. This is a Universal Studios DVD. If all of them start doing this, and they may, my computer would be full of otherwise useless software. Also, there is no notice on the cover telling you this, so you aren't given the option not to buy.

This movie has everything - romance, action, well-developed characters, human interest and some wonderful locations. I enjoyed this movie apart from one thing: Casting Cage in the leading role was a big mistake, in my opinion. I'm not trying to take anything away from Cage's acting ability here - he is great in some parts, such as in "Face Off" and "The Rock" but he is about as convincing as an Italian lover as Austin Powers would be! It is painful, almost, watching Cage try to be Italian. In one of the early scenes Cage is conducting his men singing the Anvil Chorus while they shave, with huge and overdne gestures. All I can see when he does this is Cage as the madman in the Halleluja Chorus scene in "Face Off"! Ditto when he laughs wildly and says "Quick, get a gun" when the father breaks the curfew. It just doesn't wash, somehow. However, that said, as the film progresses, Cage does seem to become more comfortable in the part and therefore more convincing.

After seeing this movie I was COMPLETELY upset at how thoroughly the directer managed to ruin a beautiful story. This movie does not come remotely close to doing justice to the book itself. This story is so "Hollywood-ized" they add sex where it is completely unnecessary, romanticize a story about life, war, and TRUE LOVE, and the screenwriters completely change the story line around! I was most offended when one of the most noble characters of the book, Carlo Guercio, was competely downplayed to the point where I had no emotion towards the movie character at all. The book, Corelli's Mandolin, is a beautifully written story that made me laugh and cry all at the same time. I felt smarter just reading it because De Bernieres uses a plethora of vocabulary words that rarely appear in everyday conversation. The story is about life itself, and it is full of lessons that a person can apply to make themself a better person. DONT SEE THIS MOVIE!!!! READ THE BOOK! I guarantee, it is completely worth the time.

This is a very heart warming movie. Nicolas Cage's accent sounds funny though. Penela Cruz is fantastic in this movie. I usually don't like war movies and lovie-dovie movies, but this movie is quite good. The settings and location where this is made is very beautiful. Penela should win an Oscar for this. After this, I am forever a Penela fan.

This was by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Nicholas Cage usually does a great job, but his attempt at an Italian accent in this movie is just horrific. Penelope Cruz gave her usual terrible performance.

Save your time and money and stare at the wall.