Mediterraneo

Gabriele Salvatores, Italy 1992, 105 minutes

A group of eight Italian soldiers and a donkey are sent to an idyllic Greek island to defend it for Mussolini and fascism.

However the island has been vacated by the Germans and the Allied powers seem little interested in it, giving our incompetent band free rein to "take the island." They duly manage to kill their donkey, shoot some chickens, destroy their radio and their battleship which dropped them off is blown up in the bay.

Completely isolated from the war, they slowly but surely become seduced by the charms of the island (in what must essentially be an advertisement for Club Med Holidays) and its female population. They gradually become more and more integrated into the island (with the Captain, an ex-art teacher, painting the inside of the local church with murals) realising the war has left them behind.

The soldiers are a disparate group; the uncommitted captain, a sergeant (the only professional soldier there) and the conscripts (two identical twins who seem happy enough to disappear off on their own, the inconsolable mule handler, the sergeant's batman, the simpleton romeo and the deserter who keeps trying to return to Italy and see his wife).

Mediterraneo is hilarious, but is far more than a straightforward comedy. Its characters are recognisable and wonderfully developed and the whole thing is sumptuously shot to reflect the hedonism of the cast and the nature of the paradise they realise they are "defending". The film is about escapism, the characters realising how much so on return to the harsh realities of post-war Italy.

Again, the film is well recommended. It won 1992 Best Foreign Language Oscar and easily outclasses it's national counterpart Il Postino which also won an Oscar. The film gives off a warmth which will make you feel sunny even on the coldest and darkest November night.

Review by Stephen J Brennan
Taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98

A group of Second World War Italian soldiers and a donkey, land on a remote Greek island. They think it is uninhabited, but discover that it is home to women, old men and children, since all the young men have been taken away by the Germans. The Italians take advantage of this fact, and soon make themselves at home - to a greater extent than they themselves realise.

Gabrielle Salvatores's award-winning film is in a way an anti-war story, for the erstwhile soldiers are much happier finding homes for themselves, and making love, than they ever were making war. The timelessness of the narrative and its luxurious setting broaden the film's range, and suggest that any happiness cannot last for ever; once lost it may never be regained. One might disagree with this, and argue that is is alway possible to regain the joy of something once experienced, but one cannot argue with the Mediterranean warmth and beauty of the vision of the soldiers' Eden. Despite a slightly downbeat ending, this is a wonder-filled and celebratory film.

Review by Iain Lang
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95