just exactly how director john madden come to settle with nicolas cage and penelope cruz play the role of an italian officer and a greek villager in an honourable story represent captain correli´s mandolin and just escape me . witness represent a wobbly and inconsistent accent by cage amid horrendous over act and with cruz more adequately cast a a spoiled latino opposite johnny depp in blow in basically a repeat performance under the guise of a greek nurse . ay and it be painful . but there be save grace . the story itself be thrill to tragic and and cage do have some ( redeeming and this be . ) musical ability . next and a superb performance by john hurt ( cruz´s father and the village doctor ) of oscar callibre and as well a by irene papa and each a village elder and as well a by christian bale ( papas´ son ) among the village freedom fighter and go far towards counter balance awkward performance ( especially at the beginning ) by cruz and cage . nicely and the last two seem to grow into their respective role a the film progress and but it´s teeth gnash early on . finally and the scenery itself and the photography could garner a technical award and and such provide pleasant distraction when most need . john hurt already have two oscar nomination and this would be a third while i hope he get it a his performance a the doctor make this film worth see . the true test of a support actor or actress be whether or not the film would be the same without the personage in question and and in this case and it would most certainly not be . not even close . entertainment value but for the aformentioned plus factor which do help raise the bar . see it if you haven not . rating equal 3 . 5 star ( of five ) .