A Film I Love And Hate

I've just been watching Captain Corelli's Mandolin on television.  I first read the book not long after it was published, and it is a book that I have reread many times since that first occasion.  I probably read it a couple of times a year, and yet I never tire of it.  The film, however, leaves a lot to be desired.  To even say that it is based on the book is a travesty, as so much of the story is changed, but I still watch the film.  You may wonder why I do, as I am so disappointed by it; the answer is quite simple.

One of my favourite places on this Earth is the island of Corfu, more properly known as Kerkira.  It was while on holiday in Corfu that I read Captain Corelli's Mandolin for the first time, and was struck by the descriptions of the people and the scenery in the book.  It is set on the island of Kefalonia, which with Corfu is one of the Ionian Islands.  While I have never been to Kefalonia, I feel as though I know it intimately, the descriptions in the book, of the scenery, the people and their way of life, could so easily be about Corfu.

So, while I am watching the film, I am watching dances that are familiar, houses that are like many that I know, and the streets of the main town are reminiscent of those that are seen in Corfu.  But more reminiscent yet, are the cypress and the olive trees.  I may not like what has been done to the story, but the film does show the beauty of the Ionian Islands and watching it makes me feel as though I am there.