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Captain Corelli's Mandolin | 2001 | R | - 6.7.5
Italian soldiers invade the Greek island of Cephallonia during WWII, and Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicolas Cage), an Italian officer with a jovial personality and a passion for playing the mandolin, falls in love with a Greek woman (Penelope Cruz), the daughter of the village doctor. She slowly warms to the charming invader as they are forced to share her father's home, but then the humorless Nazis invade the island too. Also with John Hurt, Christian Bale and David Morrissey. [2:07]
SEX/NUDITY 6 - A man and woman kiss passionately, undress (we see the woman's bare breasts and the man's bare back) and make love (the man kisses down the woman's chest and they roll back and forth caressing each other). Several bare-breasted women romp on the beach with soldiers (the women are referred to as prostitutes), and we see them again lying on the beach. We see a nude man from the back and several partially clothed men as they wash and shave. A man and woman kiss passionately while swimming in the sea, a man kisses a woman deeply, a man and woman hug and kiss each other, a man and woman kiss goodbye a few times, a man kisses a woman briefly, a woman kisses a man on the cheek. A man's bruised and bare buttocks are seen as a doctor examines him. A woman makes a clinical description of the gluteus muscles as she stands over a man with his bare buttocks exposed. We see a woman sleeping in a slip a couple of times. We see bare-chested men in several scenes; one man is fishing, one man is on a doctor's examining table, several men are on a beach. A woman asks a man to dance and they do so suggestively.
VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - A group of soldiers are lined up and shot with machine guns repeatedly; we see them jerking as they are hit and see their blood-soaked bodies several times. A man is shot in the head and blood sprays out of the wound. Four soldiers are shot repeatedly with machine guns; we see their bloody bodies lying dead. There are scenes of war which show many people being killed, people panicking and property being destroyed by an attacking army: bombers fly overhead dropping bombs as they are fired upon by anti-aircraft guns and a gun turret explodes. We see many men being shot and hit by bombs and shrapnel, a man is shot in the leg and he screams in agony, and we see a bloody hand dangling, there's a bloody wound shown a few times (we can't really tell what it is, but it's big). A bomb explodes in the middle of a town and everything goes quiet. A man is shot in the back as he runs. We see a very bloody man on a makeshift operating table, a man is covered with a rash which leaves open wounds in his skin and his feet are swollen and bloody (a woman remarks about the stench). A woman is taken away by two men while she's screaming, and she's accused of being a traitor; we see her hanging from a tree with a sign around her neck. A man and woman are forcibly dragged from their home and we hear the woman being shot after seeing a soldier holding a gun to her head. We see a group of wounded soldiers (limping and bandaged) coming off a ship and hear a description of the terrible conditions they have endured (freezing temperatures and a lack of food). A bomb explodes; rocks are ejected in a huge plume and we see a few men with bloody scratches. A group of soldiers is surrounded by other soldiers with guns drawn and cannons pointed at them. We see the military occupation of an island (by sea and air) a couple of times; soldiers rifle through houses breaking things and push people around (and we also hear that they are killing people). An earthquake turns a city to rubble; people run through the streets screaming and we see a house crumbling; a man is inside and he has blood on his face and nose. An officer threatens to destroy a town if the officials do not surrender. A man gives his daughter a pistol and tells her to use it to protect herself, or use it to kill herself if she has to, and a man asks another man to shoot him. We see a man sobbing uncontrollably when he sees his son's name on a list of dead soldiers. A cannon filled with stones is fired and a man is hit in the buttocks; we see him jumping around and yelling. We hear a man asking how long someone has been deaf and he asks for a fish hook and a hammer; we then hear a banging noise and see a decayed pea after it has been removed from a man's ear. People lie on the ground and shake and quake as the icon of a Greek Orthodox saint is passed over them (presumably to heal them). A woman yells at and smacks her son. We hear several radio reports of ships being torpedoed. A woman threatens a man with a gun, and a man jokingly threatens to shoot a man.
LANGUAGE 5 - 3 F-words, 2 mild obscenities, and some name-calling and insults.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - War, WWII, Nazis, racism, brutal tactics of war, occupation, love, grief, despair, miracles, loneliness, emptiness, malaria, morality, paying a dowry, coexistence, trust, being faithful.
MESSAGE - You must marry for love. One must make the most of innocent pleasures.
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CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
Afraid - 4.5.5
You Gotta Believe - 2.3.3
The Forge - 1.1.1
City of Dreams - 5.8.7
The Crow - 6.9.8
Blink Twice - 6.7.10
The Union - 3.5.5
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