Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)

When a fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during WWII, his fiancee falls in love with the local Italian commander.

Director:

John Madden

Writers:

Shawn Slovo (screenplay), Louis de Bernières (novel)

Stars:

Penélope Cruz, John Hurt, Christian Bale

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Penélope Cruz	...	Pelagia
John Hurt	...	Dr. Iannis
Christian Bale	...	Mandras
Irene Papas	...	Drosoula
Gerasimos Skiadaressis	...	Mr. Stamatis
Aspasia Kralli	...	Mrs. Stamatis
Mihalis Giannatos	...	Kokolios
Dimitris Kaberidis	...	Father Aresenios (as Dimitris Kamperidis)
Pietro Sarubbi	...	Velisarios, The Strongman (as Pedro Sarubbi)
Viki Maragaki	...	Eleni, Pelagia's Friend
Joanna-Daria Adraktas	...	Young Lemoni
Ira Tavlaridis	...	Older Lemoni
Katerina Didaskalou	...	Lemoni's Mother
Emilios Chilakis	...	Dimitris
Nikos Karathanos	...	Spiros

Storyline

In 1941, Italy allies with Germany and ruthlessly conquers the much weaker country of Greece. On a remote Greek island, an Italian artillery garrison is established to maintain order. One Italian officer, Captain Corelli, adopts an attitude of mutual co-existence with the Greeks and engages in such activities as music festivals and courting the daughter of a local doctor. In 1943, however, after Italy surrenders to the Allies and changes sides in the war, Captain Corelli must defend the Greek island against a German invasion.

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Plot Keywords:

italian | greek | love | island | captain | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [fr] (French) Buena Vista Int. (UK) (Flash only)

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English Greek German Italian

Release Date:

17 August 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

La mandolina del capitán Corelli

Filming Locations:

Chorgota Beach, Komitata Village, Kefallonia Island, Greece

Box Office

Budget:

$57,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$7,209,345 (USA) (17 August 2001)

Gross:

$25,528,495 (USA) (12 October 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Miramax Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer Louis de Bernières rewrote the book approximately 35 times to ensure he had got details told to him by locals as accurate as possible.

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Goofs

A radio broadcast announces that the Allies have taken Rome. This leads to Italy dropping out of the war and fighting between the Italians and Germans. Italy surrendered in September 1943, after the Allies captured Sicily. Rome fell in June 1944, long after all of Captain Corelli's men were dead.

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Quotes

Corelli: [upon first seeing Pelagia] Bella bambina at two o'clock!

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Connections

Referenced in Gilmore Girls: The Road Trip to Harvard (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Giovinezza"
(Blanc/Massi)

User Reviews

Please read the book instead.

Ok, it's a given that you cannot make a good movie from a good book. (Unless you make it a trilogy :-) But comparing the book Corelli's Mandolin to this movie it's clear how much has to be cut to fit a screenplay. The book is very funny in places, romantic (of course), dramatic. What's left of it in the film is inexplicable romance -- as other reviewers have remarked, it's unclear why she falls in love with the italian while her betrothed is still around, and I have no idea why this was changed from the book -- and some gratuitous gunning and bombing scenes, more than in the book which derives its power from not hammering on the obvious points. Whole characters are cut: Carlo has maybe 10 seconds screen time, while in the book he has a whole story line that runs several chapters.