With their back-to-back adaptations of two best-selling British novels with almost cult-like followings (and similar title structure), Bridget Jones' Diary and now Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Working Title Productions is beginning to create a brand recognition approaching that of Merchant Ivory.
Both novels share the problem of structural difficulty in their adaptation to film. In the case of Corelli, the novel covers a span of over fifty years (opening in 1940 and closing in 1993, the year that the novel was completed), with the titular character not even appearing until a third of the way into the book. Although a David Lean-like saga might have been possible, the late appearance of Corelli would have made such an approach dangerous, and it was wisely decided to reduce the scope of the novel to the central World War Two love story.
The novel by Louis de Bernières, a former schoolteacher, was based on actual events. The character of Corelli was based on Amos Pampaloni, who now lives in Florence with his wife Marisa (he is 91). Although the novel's mandolin was a literary invention, Pampaloni was a master of the instrument, and like Corelli he was a captain in the 33rd artillery regiment of the Acqui division, sent by Mussolini to occupy Cephalonia. He fell in love with a Cephalonian girl, and participated in the first military action against the Germans after the Italian armistice; the execution storyline was also true.
What was not entirely true was the story's romance. In fact, the girl -- whom Pampaloni has never identified -- was an 18-year-old schoolteacher, and the relationship between her and Pampaloni (who was 33) was platonic, unconsummated and never reaching beyond the level of kissing and cuddling; Pampaloni says that this was due not only to their age difference, but also to the respect he held for the girl's father. The real Pelagia, he says, later married a doctor and moved to Athens.
Pampaloni published his memoirs in the magazine Il Ponte in the early 1960s. The memoirs were read by the historian Marcello Venture, who interviewed Pampaloni and subsequently published White Flag at Cephalonia in 1966; this in turn was read by de Bernières, who incorporated the events into his Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which was published in 1994 and has since sold nearly two million copies in the United Kingdom alone.
Perhaps echoing the extended inception of the novel, the film too was a long time in production, with the original director Roger Michell (Notting Hill) sufferring a heart attack just before the start of shooting in May of 2000. He was replaced with John Madden (Shakespeare in Love), who did a masterful job in reducing the scope of the film while still retaining the epic feel of a much larger production.
Film Synopsis: Nicolas Cage stars as Captain Antonio Corelli, an
Italian officer whose company of soldiers is sent to Cephallonia, a beautiful
Greek island untouched by war. A free spirit with a passion for music and
romance, Corelli is enchanted by Cephallonia and its people-especially Pelagia
(Penelope Cruz), the gorgeous, proud daughter of the island's doctor (John Hurt). Engaged
to a local fisherman (Christian Bale), Pelagia resists Corelli's attentions, but
the kind and charming captain weakens her defenses. Surrendering their hearts,
Corelli and Pelagia begin a heated affair. But before their love can grow, the
war crashes on Cephallonia's shores, forcing Corelli and Pelagia to make
dangerous sacrifices for country and home ... and risk losing each other forever.
Technical
| Video: |
Widescreen 2.31:1 (Anamorphic) |
| Audio: |
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC]
ENGLISH: DTS 5.1 [CC]
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Subtitles: |
English, Closed Captions |
| Chapters: |
18 |
The video transfer is superb. The film's cinematography maintained a soft low-contrast look in keeping with the perceived time period and subtext of the action, and the very wide-screen image on the DVD handles it exceptionally well. Colors are realistic, blacks are dimesional, and scenes of high contrast (even when freeze-framed) are detailed and solid. No compression artifacts were seen.
Audio is equally well-transferred. The film contains a wide frequency range, and both the Dolby and the DTS tracks replicate it well. There is much use of the rear channels for both soundscape-shaping and for effects sounds (particularly during the attacks), and we could hear no "breathing" artifacts in sounds occurring during the quiter moments.The DTS track has a slight edge over the Dolby during the more sonically detailed passages, but both are excellent.
Supplements
- Feature Commentary with director John Madden
- Russell Watson "Ricordo Ancor" (Pelagia's Song) Music Video (3:51)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:16)
Madden provides a quiet and low-key commentary on an alternate audio track. He speaks mainly, although not exclusively, about the technical aspects of the film: the locations (the movie was filmed on location on the Greek island of Cephallonia, where the actual events took place), the art direction of the sets and the town (which despite their aged appearance were almost entirely fabricated for the movie, for a variety of reasons -- including the fact that most of the original structures were destroyed in the 1953 earthquake), and why certain choices were made in lighting and scenes and dialog. It is a surprisingly fascinating talk, from a director who has clearly achieved his vision for the film.
Preceded by a 30-second commercial for the movie soundtrack album, the four-minute music video (in Italian) features the operatic Russell Watson, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Tom Hanks. The video is letterboxed without anamorphic enhancement. On our copy there appeared to be an audio sync problem, with the sound lagged by perhaps a tenth of a second from the video. An exact determination was difficult, as the tempo of the song is slow and the vocalizations so modulated during the few close-ups of Watson (the music video is primarily scenes from the film) as to offer few opportunities for clear synchronization. It is a minor issue in any case, and the inclusion of the video fits well with the experience of the film.
The theatrical trailer is standard, and is letterboxed without anamorphic enhancement.
