The Greek Patient (Captain Corelli's Mandolin (DVD))

Member Name: george_lazenby

Product:	Captain Corelli's Mandolin (DVD)
Date:	10/05/01 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good actors, Lovely locations

Disadvantages: You've heard this one before

The camera wanders lovingly across sunlit locations, the actors stride across the landscape in painstakingly realised costumes, the drama is high, the violence is gritty, the emotion is raw and the ending is poignant. Yes, it’s ‘The English Patient II – The Cephallonian Years’. Forget Louis De Bernieres’ novel, because while the brand name is important, the most important thing about ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ is its stablemates – Miramax, Working Title and director John Madden have in various combinations been responsible for a run of Quality Adult Drama Tinged With Oscars (a recipe they should attempt to patent).

Madden directed ‘Mrs Brown’ and ‘Shakespeare in Love’, and in various combinations, Miramax and Working Title have supervised the latter, plus ‘English Patient’. ‘Chocolat’ and numerous others. They make high-quality good taste movies with big names, and win more Oscars than most big Hollywood studios combined.

It’s this that counts here, and the edges of de Bernieres’ novel (both in terms of difficult material and controversial perspectives) have been delicately rounded off to leave a grand romantic wartime drama complete with good performances, gorgeous locations and lovely photography.

If you don’t know the plot, well, it’s boy meets girl, boy turns out to be a bit bigoted, girl becomes disenchanted and falls for charming occupying soldier, Tragedy Strikes, events are poignantly resolved, and there is an earthquake. No, I don’t really think you need more that. What this film aims to do is suck its audiences in with gravitas, with a strong supporting cast including John (I’m Finally Going to Get That Oscar) Hurt, and Irene (I was in ‘Zorba The Greek’ you know) Papas, and three bright sparkling leads (Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Christian Bale). It wants to sell brochure-p
erfect views of Cephallonia, to blend warm village scenes, lush romance and a bit of wartime brutality to create the same box-office busting, critic-satisfying fare as in previous projects.

You’re detecting my sarcasm, I think. I wouldn’t want to say that this is a bad film, because it isn’t. The acting is very good, technically, it’s a superb film, and even the mandolin-tinged music is quite effective. Numerous scenes work brilliantly (like the one where the Italian Officers sing in the square, or the sudden intrusion of the war, or any of the scenes involving the mesmerising John Hurt) and the bones of the novel still make a very compelling story.

It’s just a bit lightweight. You know Cruz will fall for Cage and he for her – who wouldn’t, they’re both so adorable. You know Hurt will be irascible and craggy, and shoot out the wisdom of the experienced older generations (‘Chocolat’ and ‘Captain Corelli’ are radically different books, and yet Hurt is playing virtually the same part as Judi Dench in the other film). In the end, you know everything, and the problem is, you can spot all the joins in this lush concoction. It feels pieced together, calculated, a bit cynical (when the whole drift of the film is a very naïve recitation of that old saw, love conquers all).

Ultimately, it’s just a bit difficult to take seriously, although it isn’t hard to enjoy. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to get a bit involved, but ultimately, you know you’re being sold a product, rather than told a real story.

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