Captain Corelli's Mandolin

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Captain Corelli's Mandolin ★★ 2001 (R)

Based on the novel by Louis de Bernieres, the film is set on the Greek island of Cephallonia during the early days of WWII. After numerous scenes of hearty Greek peasant life, the island is occupied by an ariasinging Italian army troop, led by mandolin strumming Captain Corelli (Cage). He moves into the local doctor's (Hurt) place and quickly falls for his daughter Pelagia (Cruz). The problem is that she's engaged to fisherman Mandras (Bale), a Greek partisan. Cage's over-done accent makes Trahim sound like he's trying to sell you a pizza, but it matches the overwrought tone. Director Madden was signed late in pre-production after scheduled director Roger Michell suffered a heart attack. 127m/C VHS, DVD . GB US Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale, John Hurt, David Morrisdirecsey, Irene Papas, Patrick Malahide; D: John Madden; W: Shawn Slovo; C: John Toll; M: Stephen Warbeck.