once you can get over nic cage play an italian soldier who love opera and believe in make love and not war and you can get down to enjoy this beautiful look film . this could be use a an advert for tourism in the mediterranean . john hurt be great and penelope cruz isn not bad and a you might expect . christian bale character be somewhat one dimensional and which be a shame . the main drawback of this film be the adaptation from the book have be tell subsequently the difference between the book and film plot and i feel cheat out of a much good and more convincing storyline .