here a well make war story and nicely shot and well act . the portraying of the italian and german occupancy of greek island kefalonia be well do . john hurt a pelagia father and the island doctor be superb and nicolas cage do a good job a the captain from the title and penelope cruz do a good job of be beautiful and bat her eyelash at cage . there heroic and humor and there drama and romance and and it be all set on an idyllic island . oddly enough and a very similar and or should i say almost identical and storyline and with the same character go through the same series of event and be tell in a novel by the same title and write by louis de bernieres . this wonderful historical novel tell the story of beautiful pelagia and daughter of doctor iannis and and their life on kefalonia during wwii . pelagia fiancee and local fisherman mandras and enlists when the italian army invades northern greece from albania under false pretense . when the axis finally prevail and with a lot of help from the german and a garrison of italian soldier be station on the island and and captain corelli play a big part in keep the occupation a peaceful time . a mandras join the partisan and charm corelli and his mandolin be quarter with the doctor and his beautiful daughter . of course and this make it a novel about love . but it be also a war novel and a summary of greek history and a tale of communist uprising in post war greece and a portrait of the madness of mussolini and and and most importantly and an ode to island life on kefalonia . some of these element return in the movie and but in general and it be an impossible book to film . i be glad nobody ever try . the movie captain corelli mandolin and however and be worth see . just make sure you read the book after you see the movie .