Who left the Greeks out? Who, Who, Who, Who? (Captain Corelli's Mandolin (DVD))

Member Name: x_elff_x

Product:	Captain Corelli's Mandolin (DVD)
Date:	03/05/01 (196 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful scenery, beautiful people

Disadvantages: Nic Cage's Parlo Italiano

... In which I laughed out loud three times (once at an unintentional gag), cried once and felt the urge to buy Timotei shampoo 5 times....


Sorry folks, I got another free preview ticket so I am going to have another go at movie reviewing.

Seems to me that 2001 should be declared The Year of The Film of The Book - though perhaps the Chinese are right sticking to animals...

First Chocolat made its screen debut, with the not-very-fat-really-but-not-a-stick-insect Bridget Jones following hard on its heels and now 'reclusive'* writer, Louis de Bernieres' masterpiece has been made into its own bit of celluloid magic.

But does the spell pull any rabbits from the hat? Well it certainly pulls a few goats out of it.

For those who haven't read the book, the story is set on the island of Cephalonia. Here Pelagia (Penelope Cruz - Our heroine and part-time Timotei girl) lives with her oh-so-very-moustachioed father John Hurt.

Dad is a forward thinking man of the world, training his daughter to follow in his footsteps as a doctor whilst also philosphising on the nature of love in his spare time and taking a seemingly endless number of walks. Pelagia falls in love with local fisherman (Mandras - played in a sultry manner by Christian Bale - who has certainly grown up to be a fine figure of a man since his Empire of the Sun days).

Happiness is short-lived, however, as war breaks out and Mandras heads off to foreign shores leaving behind his betrothed - who just happens to cop off with one of the occupying Italian military (Nic Cage).

What follows is chick flick writ large, as the men vie for her attentions against the backdrop of war.

As an adaptation of the book, this film really isn't too bad at all. Director John Madden - of Shakespeare in Love fame - certainly gives us enough lingering shots of the island to give it a real sense of place. However, as with Bridget Jone
s, the peripheral characters are truncated - with the homosexual element of the book almost excised completely.

But the key elements are here. Correlli still sings and plays his mandolin, the Germans are still nasty and the lovers still star-crossed.

Whether the film works on all levels though, I would debate. There were certainly several elements that were annoying.

Firstly, the accents and plot were just a little too much 'Allo, 'Allo meets It Ain't Half Hot Mum, although at least they resisted the urge to give the key German officer those awful over-pronounced 'Ve's. Instead, this character sports an English accent - proving, if further proof were needed, that Hollywood likes nothing better than an English bad guy.

Secondly, there really didn't seem to be many Greeks about (hence my title). I'm not sure if my incredulity was enhanced by Cage - after all he is such a well known actor you just know he is putting on the tootsie frootsie ice-a cream-a voice - but there did seem to be a lack of locals.

Also, certain bits of the plot were never fully explained, such as Corelli's ability to speak Italian and Greek and the fact that the Italians brought a load of women with them to the island. Mind you the express purpose of the women they brought was seemingly to get their tits out for the lads... hey ho.

Finally, the Timotei stuff. There was far too much of Ms Cruz running through mountain glades with her hair shining in the sun. Not to mention the fact that in every other scene she seemed to be clutching a basket of herbs (that's 'erbs if you are American) to her chest as if her life depended on it. There is one particular scene too, where she utters the word 'sorry' in such an unbelievable way that the entire cinema got a case of the giggles.

A surprisingly good feature of the film was the Stuka bombers (my other half tells me this stuff - sorry ladies) wh
ich I think were CGI. Regardless, they were certainly impressive and the switch between the comedic elements and 'the tragedy of war' were handled quite adeptly.

The soundtrack, too, was mostly reassuringly unobtrusive, although I did get the urge to sing Walting Matilda along to the end credits.

Overall, I would recommend this film - I wish there was a 3 and a half stars. Madden has done a pretty fair job of cataloguing the book, the acting is professional throughout and its services to goats and herb gathering are unparalleled.


*I just wanted to point out that if an author is described as 'recluse' in the papers, what it basically means is that they don't do that whole major interviewing thing, then the papers sulk and call them a recluse. JK Rowling also falls into this category.

Summary: