What’s this all about?
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is a period drama/romance about the German, and subsequent Italian occupation of Greece during World War II. It details the lives and relationships between the residents of a small Greek fishing village on Kefalonia, their Italian occupiers, and some of their Nazi overseers. The war in the Mediterranean is an often overlooked aspect of the second World War, and the implications of the fall of Mussolini are an even less often considered topic. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin does an admirable job highlighting the dusty corners of a conflict that so often seems to be depicted as starting on D-Day and ending on VE Day.
Who is Nick in this one?
Nick plays the titular “Captain Corelli,” an Italian artillery captain whose unit, at the beginning of the film, has seen no combat. He and his men, almost all from the same small town, are more interested in opera and wine than they are in conquest of the Greek isles.
Nick’s performance in this film is honestly great, and stands alongside his performances in films like Raising Arizona, that makes the viewer ask, “how can this be the same guy who was in The Rock?”
Who else is in this one?
Penélope Cruz (a hamster or something in G-Force) plays Pelagia, the daughter of a Greek doctor who aspires to become a physician herself. She falls in love with a young man from her village, and later, with Captain Corelli. Her performance is excellent.
John Hurt (“Kane” in Alien) plays Pelagia’s father, a world-weary but gifted physician, and owner of the home where Pelagia lives and where Captain Corelli is billeted. John Hurt is always amazing, and that holds true here. Nothing ever bursts out of his chest, but they can’t all be Ridley Scott movies.
Christian Bale (Batman) plays Mandras, Pelagia’s finance. He’s a bold, brash young man who runs off to war to prove himself, and learns some very hard lessons on the way. He’s good here.
Irene Papas (the treacherous “Maria” from Guns of Navarone) plays “Drosoula,” Mandras’ mother. She’s great, but I kept expecting her to double cross Gregory Peck.
Did you see that?
This is the second movie in this marathon that features the Italian Carcano rifle, a long-serving bolt action rifle that first saw service in 1891, and, almost unbelievably, saw use as recently as the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
The Carcano is perhaps most notable for its complete mediocrity. The rifle was designed for battles that heavily employed bayonet charges, so it’s far too long to be convenient on a modern battlefield. The 6.5mm cartridge that it was designed around was developed relatively early in the development of “modern” rifle cartridges, so it’s almost comically underpowered, producing just two thirds of the energy of a comparable Springfield .30-06, despite carrying a heavier load. The manufacturing tolerances of the Carcano rifles varied widely from armory to armory, so the accuracy of individual rifles is all over the place.
Still, the Italians made enough of these rifles, and distributed them around the world so successfully that I was able to purchase a functional example for $200 in 2019.
We saw Nick and his compatriots employ these rifles in Ethiopia in the terrible Time To Kill. It’s interesting (and historically accurate) to see him toting one again here. -Michael
The scenery of the movie was incredible. The film was primarily filmed on the Greek island of Kefalonia. The scenes were shot in and around the village of Sami. It was just beautiful, I feel like I would enjoy an accompanying film just showing the scenery without all that acting getting in the way. -Sarah
What were Nick’s best parts?
In a film full of great examples of great acting, I’m going to call out the scenes in which we see Nick singing. Nick’s entire unit consider themselves to be an “opera club” and we see/hear them singing throughout the movie. In last week’s review of The Family Man, I called out Nick’s ability to believably sing Italian opera badly. In Captain Corelli’s Mandolin he makes me believe that he can sing it very well. It’s clear from this performance (and others) that Nick is actually a very good singer, and it suited the character well. -Michael
Nick delivers his top performance to date in this film. Through the bulk of this movie Nick plays a soldier that hasn’t seen any action, whose heart is light and whose life is joyful despite the fact that he’s in the middle of World War 2. As always, Nick portrays playful and joyous well. Then the movie takes the inevitable turn of the war actually showing up and Nick suddenly has to face the unfair wrath of the Nazis killing his friends. In the scene where this switch happens, Nick delivers the shock, pain, and anger of this flawlessly. And in the scenes following Nick turns into a well trained and intelligent leader who tries to turn the tide of his situation only to fail. Bravo Nick! Well done! – Sarah
What were Nick’s worst parts?
Early in the film, when Nick is first billeted in John Hurt’s house, Hurt gets up to go for a walk, and Nick warns him that there is a curfew in effect. Hurt goes for his walk anyway, and Penelope Cruz challenges Nick about how he should handle the curfew violation.
Nick responds jokingly with “Somebody get the gun. Shoot him! Shoot him!”
The line is meant to be a poorly received joke, but it is delivered very badly, as if the character knew he was making a tasteless joke. It’s awkward, but not in the way that I think the director intended.
This is really a very small nitpick in an excellent performance. -Michael
I really have nothing here. Start to finish Nick did an amazing job. -Sarah
How was the movie? (Michael/Sarah)
I’d never seen this movie before this watch through. I had been avoiding it, because I detest what I call “unfaithful romance films” in which we see the romantic entanglement of people who are married/involved with other people (think Bridges of Madison County).
Fortunately, that’s not at all what this movie is. While Pelagia is engaged to Mandras when she meets and eventually falls in love with Corelli, their relationship is not a serious one, and Mandras has essentially abandoned Pelagia by the time she meets Corelli.
Also, I’d hardly call this film a traditional romance. This isn’t like something that you’d see on Hallmark Channel. It has a real, complex story that doesn’t revolve exclusively around the two leads. There’s some comedy, some drama, some romance, and even some action. The characters change and grow, and their actions have both understandable motives and real consequences.
The acting was quite good all around, the cinematography was excellent, and I feel like the historical accuracy level was high. I should probably make a joke here, implying that I think the director, John Madden, is the same guy who used to coach American football, but I’ll let it go. -Michael
I have a hard time believing that this movie was not appreciated more in its time. I should admit that the critics at the time thought there were historical inaccuracies and that it didn’t follow the book. Being someone who doesn’t bring to the table a deep knowledge of what played out in the Greek isles during WWII and has never read the book, I cannot comment. If this was the bad version of some great novel, I really should check out that novel, because this film was amazing. -Sarah
Yeah, but did you like it?
I did. I cared about what happened, and found the story to be satisfying. -Michael
I loved it. I also had never seen this film before. I had heard of it, but never really paid any attention. It wasn’t something I avoided, I just had never even considered it. I had no idea when I sat down to watch this movie that I was in for such a treat. – Sarah
Where can I watch it?
You can rent it on Amazon Prime.
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