Cast: Claudio Bigagli, Giuseppe Cederna, Vanna Barba, Gigio Alberti, Irene Grazioli, Claudio Bisio, Ugo Conti, Diego Abatantuono
Director: Gabriele Salvatores
Producers: Silvio Berlusconi, Mario Cecchi Gori, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Gianni Minervini
Screenplay: Vincenzo Monteleone
Cinematography: Italo Petriccione
Music: Ennio Morricone
U.S. Distributor: Miramax Films
In Italian with subtitles
Mediterraneo was the winner of the 1991 Best Foreign Picture Oscar and, frankly, it doesn't seem worthy of the award. While this is an entertaining movie, there's nothing extraordinary about this lighthearted fantasy-comedy.
Mediterraneo groups together a number of likeable characters and surrounds them with a plot lacking in complexity. It's about a group of Italians sent to guard an out-of-the way island in the Greek Sea during World War 2. At first, the assignment seems like the worst in the war, but as the tranquility of the island works its magic on the men, they discover that peace isn't all that bad after all. The only thing that makes Mediterraneo notable are the people who populate the film. The characters are, without exception, well-portrayed, and they grow on the audience as the film progresses. Special note should be made of Diego Abatantuono's Lo Russo, who undergoes the most thorough and believable transformation.
Mediterraneo has little new to add to its genre of pacifist war films, although the irony of the stranded Italians never knowing the exact identity of the enemy makes for some amusing moments. There are thematic parallels to the recent Dances with Wolves, but Mediterraneo only scratches the surface of too many issues. In the end, this movie is probably too light an effort (often straying into straight comedy) to expect much from. It's fun and diverting, but, despite all the accolades, far from a landmark effort.
© 1992 James Berardinelli