As a glossy romance in dangerous times, this has all the classic elements and does a reasonably good job of marshalling people and events to its heart-wrenching finale.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:114
Fresh:33
Rotten:81
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: The cinematography is gorgeous, but the movie plays it fast and loose with history and the novel it was adapted from. Mostly, the movie fails because the romance between the leads strains credulity and the story is largely uninvolving.
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $25,261,240
Synopsis:
Academy Award (R) winner Nicolas Cage (City of Angels) and Penelope Cruz (All About My Mother) star in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, an epic tale about the enduring hope of love and the devastating...
Academy Award (R) winner Nicolas Cage (City of Angels) and Penelope Cruz (All About My Mother) star in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, an epic tale about the enduring hope of love and the devastating brutality of war, set amid the Italian occupation of Greece during World War II.
The idyllic beauty of Greece's Mediterranean coast has been invaded by Italy, bringing legions of soldiers to the once tranquil island of Cephallonia. Captain Antonio Corelli (Cage), an officer with an irrepressibly jovial personality and passion for the mandolin, initially alienates a number of the villagers, including Pelagia (Cruz). The daughter of the village doctor, Pelagia is an educated and strong-willed woman, and while at first offended by the Italian soldier's behavior, she slowly warms to his certain charms as they are forced to share her father's home.
When Pelagia's fiancee, a local fisherman, heads off to war, the friendship between Antonio and Pelagia grows even stronger. Her beauty and intelligence have captured his heart, and his fondness for the village's vibrant community causes him to question his reasons for fighting. Antonio becomes a part of the lives of the villagers, but the moment is fleeting. As the war grows ever closer, Antonio and Pelagia are forced to choose between their allegiance to their countries and the love they feel for one another-a love which must overcome tremendous odds, and endure the inevitable sacrifice which accompanies eternal devotion. -- © 2001 Universal Pictures
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Christian Bale, John Hurt
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Christian Bale, John Hurt, David Morrissey, Irene Pappas
Director: John Madden
Director: John Madden
Screenwriter: Shawn Slovo
Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kevin Loader, Mark Huffam
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Captain Corelli's Mandolin
It's a wonder Corelli doesn't bring his gondola and striped shirt with him from Italy.
The last half of the movie is undeniably gripping, creating a powerful love story for mature film-lovers.
Insomniacs take heart: The soothing sounds of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin are an invitation to snooze away a couple of hours.
While he may be Italian-American in ethnic origin, he ain't no Italian -- Cage looks like an American, acts like an American, and speaks like an American, even in his fleeting attempts to use an accent.
Cage fumbles through the scenes with an Itralian accent reminiscent of his Moonstruck days.
A film afraid to let down any part of an audience...often alienates the audience that would have embraced it; this is Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin doesn't so much strike a lot of sour notes as fail to strike the right ones.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a classic case of a mainstream Hollywood movie biting off more history than it can chew.
Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz are ill-matched, and the range of heavy accents is distracting.
The adapters of Louis de Bernieres' complicated and troubling novel Corelli's Mandolin have cut away most of what made the book unique.
What we get is kind of a condensed version of some of the sights and sounds of the novel, without the heart, the spirit and the juicy detail.
Even though it doesn't measure up to its superb source, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is still a richer and more worthwhile entertainment than most of this summer's dumbed-down releases.
A lot of talent was squandered on this incoherent grab bag of war-movie moments.
Not as good as it might have been but better than the negative press it has received, which has unfairly doomed it to severe losses at the box office.
La novela, disponible en cualquier librería, es una gran realización; desgraciadamente al llevarla a los 24 cuadros por segundo, perdió mucha de su fuerza.
Beautifully filmed and smartly told, Mandolin delights with unexpected plot twists and polished performances from John Hurt as the curmudgeonly pop and Christian Bale as the jilted fiance.
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