Filmed on the scenic Greek island of Cephallonia, where the story takes place, "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" is a... hmm, I guess love story, set during World War II. Narrated by Dr Iannis (John Hurt), about the only doctor on the island, this is a movie about an old people's, who have lived on this island for untold generations, surviving earthquakes and wars and plagues and disasters. Now another test looms over the horizon. Greece is still out of the war but is being harrassed by the Italians on the Albanian border. It's only a matter of time before the country is pulled into the conflict, a fact that is only know starting to take hold in Cephallonia.

Dr Iannis has a daughter, Pelagia (Penelope Cruz), a smart woman well on her way to becoming a doctor herself. She is madly in love with Mandras (Christian Bale), a local fisherman, not the brightest kid on the block but a good man nevertheless. Dr Iannis is not exactly pleased with Pelagia's decision. He doesn't think that anybody on the island is suitable for his daughter -- nobody can intellectually challenge her. Her father would rather she marry a foreigner, but her heart won't listen.

Mandras proposes to Pelagia and they are betrothed just as a shooting war starts and Mandras goes off to join the Greek Army. Pelagia writes to Mandras every day but she never gets a word back. Meanwhile the Greek Army defeats the Italians, prompting the Germans to aid their allies in taking Greece. Pelagia despairs that Mandras is dead, but he shows up, wounded and torn. It is only a little later that we learn that Mandras can't read, which is kind of strange that Pelagia didn't know since it's a small island after all. Probably something explained in the book that the movie is based on but was cut out of the movie.

Anyways, the Italians arrive right after, to take possession of the island. There is no love lost between the Greeks and Italians, as the mayor refuses to surrender to an army that the Greeks defeated. So the Italians have to call on Captain Weber (David Morrissey), liason officer attached to the Italians and the top-ranking German on the island. With the surrender of the town accomplished the Italians can turn to fortifying the beaches and establishing a presence.

This is also the first time that we see Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicolas Cage), marching lively, leading his men, with his mandolin strapped on his back. Captain Corelli is in charge of an artillery battery and his men all have to participate in his impromptu opera group (this leads to quite a bit of singing in the movie). An opera lover, Corelli is not the most militant man in the army (though really, the impression that I got from the movie is that the Italian army is rather lackadaisical -- they know what to do and they do it right, they just take their own time about it).

As an officer, Corelli is barracked at the home of Dr Iannis. That way he can get to know the pretty young girl that he saw that first day on the island. The relationship takes time to develop, as Corelli shows that he has no animosity for the Greeks, he is just doing his duty like the rest of his compatriots. And as Pelagia starts falling for Corelli, there's Mandras -- now a member of the resistance -- flitting in and out of the picture.

But then the war is over for the Italians as the Allies take Rome (and you realize that a couple of years have passed in the movie, though it only seemed more like a couple of months). Although the Italians are overjoyed with the prospect of going home, the cloud in the horizon are their German allies, who no longer trust the Italians as they "peaceably" take over the Italian positions. Indignity and indignity is heaped upon the Italians as they are forced (at gunpoint) to turn over their weapons to the Germans.

Tension mounts and there is a shooting incident, leaving several Italian soldiers dead. This is the last straw for the Italians, and now the garrison on Cephallonia joins with the Greek resistance to fight the Germans. A climatic confrontration is at hand. Will Captain Corelli survive? What about Mandras? And what about Pelagia?

Actually, it's a very good movie. Great cinematography and the background music is also well done. I don't know if Cage and Cruz were the best actors for this movie but they do a fine job. It builds slowly and takes its time to tell its story. Not quite a date movie, not quite a war movie, but it is a nice movie to go see. I well enjoyed it and I recommend this movie.