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CAPTAIN
CORELLI’S MANDOLIN
6/10
USA
2001
director
: John Madden
script : Shawn Slovo (based on novel by Louis de Bernieres)
cinematography : John Toll
editing : Mick Audsley
lead actors : Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, John Hurt
125 minutes
The
runaway bestseller is brought to the screen, inevitably much truncated
and generally mucked-about-with - fans of the book may protest, but it’s
hard to see the adaptation stirring very strong feelings either way among
anybody else. This is a thoroughly professional ‘prestige’ blockbuster
from the director who brought you Mrs Brown and Shakespeare
In Love - a square but safe pair of hands, and as such ideal for
such a hot literary property.
It’s
1943, and, as Italian forces occupy the scenic Greek island of Cephallonia,
opera-crazy, mandolin-strumming Capt Corelli (Cage) falls for headstrong
Pelagia (Cruz), daughter of crusty Dr Iannis (Hurt). But she’s betrothed
to resistance fighter Mandras (Bale), and they’re all soon swept up by
the vast forces of politics and history. As the war escalates, the easygoing
Italians are joined by their more aggressive German allies, with catastrophic
consequences…
Picking
holes in Corelli isn’t difficult - Madden’s careful approach would
have seemed old-fashioned back in the film’s forties setting, and it’s
bizarre, in the year 2001, to have all these characters speaking such
heavily-accented English. Even for those unfamiliar with the book, there’s
a distinct feeling of a quart being forced into a pint pot, with several
blasts of plummy-accented exposition booming clumsily out of radios to
keep us informed about the wider picture - “Greece is not yet involved
in the war…” - though towards the end it’s hard to keep track of exactly
what’s happening and why.
The
focus on the central romance allows Cage and Cruz plenty of room to develop
their characters, but, with the exception of Hurt, the supporting cast
mostly have to make do with underwritten roles. As the ‘good Nazi’ Weber,
David Morrissey projects just
the right blend of insecurity and Tyrolean bravado, but the script doesn’t
give him much chance to form a convincing relationship with Corelli, a
relationship which is vital to the latter sections’ melodramatic plot
mechanics.
Even
so, the Weber character fares better than that of Corelli’s bodyguard,
Carlo (Piero Maggio) – in the book Carlo’s homosexual attraction to Corelli
is, again, an important factor in the fates of both men. In the movie,
this attraction is disappointingly blanded out into a simple bond of platonic,
soldierly fraternity.
But
Corelli is, at heart, a big-budget crowd-pleaser designed to be
enjoyed, not analysed. Audiences in search of two hours’ worth of romantic
escapism will lap up the photogenic cast, the lush strings-heavy score,
and John Toll’s luminous cinematography of the stunning scenery.
Perhaps
too luminously stunning - Cephallonia may have retained its character
over centuries of earthquake, occupation and massacre, but that’s nothing
compared with what’ll happen when this two-hour advert attracts the attention
of world’s most ruthless invading force: mass tourism.
26h
April, 2001
by Neil
Young
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