Big budget Hollywood adaptation of the novel set on the Italian-occupied Greek island of Cephalonia during the 1940s. Captain Corelli (Nicolas Cage), an opera-loving mandolin player, finds the population resentful when he first arrives on the island. But soon his involvement with local beauty Pelagia (Penelope Cruz) helps him form a bond with the local community and he starts to question his own involvement in the war. The tentative love affair between Corelli and Pelagia is then tested by the brutal arrival of the Germans in 1943.
While Captain Corellis Mandolin may frustrate admirers of Louis de Bernières densely detailed novel, it proves Shakespeare in Love director John Madden is a worthy craftsman of literary films. Its a tastefully old-fashioned adaptation, preserving the novels flavour while focusing on its love story set against the turbulence of World War II. Set on the Greek island of Cephallonia, the drama begins in 1940 with occupation by Italian troops, awkwardly allied with the Nazis and preferring hedonistic friendliness over military intimidation. That attitude is most generously embodied by Captain Corelli (Nicolas Cage), who is instantly drawn to the Greek beauty Pelagia (Penélope Cruz) despite her engagement to Mandras (Christian Bale), a resistance fighter whose absence leaves Pelagia needy for affection. Mandrass eventual return--and the inevitable attack by German bombers and ground troops--threaten to stain this Greek-Italian romance with deeply tragic bloodshed.
Accompanied by pensive serenades from the captains cherished mandolin, the film charts the unlikely attraction of Corelli and Pelagia, whose wizened physician father (splendidly played by John Hurt) fears for the worst. Their love is uneasy (and Cages miscasting doesnt help), but the islands beguiling atmosphere is as seductive to them as it is to the viewer, thus making the outbreak of violence--and a climactic earthquake--jarringly traumatic. Emphasising nobility in war and the many definitions of love, the storys wartime context intensifies the films admirable depth of emotion. Faults will be found by anyone whos looking for them, but Captain Corellis Mandolin remains a sensuous, richly layered film that die-hard romantics will find hard to resist.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com