Mediterraneo
Academy Award winner 1991 – Best Foreign Language Film
Starring: Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Bigagli, Guiseppe Cederna,Claudio Bisio,
Luigi Alberti, Ugo Conti, Memo Dini, Vasco Mirandola, Luigi Montini, Irene Grazioli, Antonio Catania.
Directed by: Gabriele Salvatores
Every movie has, in similarity to life, a beginning and an ending. Comparing the beginning scene and the ending tells a lot about a movie. The opening picture In Mediterraneo shows a group of young soldiers, with little and common, shuffled together by fate. The ending shows a group of friends who learnt to share their lives.
It is 1941. A fierce battle is raging through the eastern part of the Mediterranean, where Italian troops are battling British forces for the control of some islands, such as it evolved in similar ways between American and the Japanese troops in the Pacific theatre.
On this background of war, an Italian platoon is sent to the tiny island of Kastellorizo. The cruiser, that brought them to the Island, is sunk the same day. The soldiers’ radio equipment fails. Gradually they make contact with the Islanders, and are forgotten by the war-faring parties.
Step-by-step the soldiers find new lives. Some become goat herders, fishermen, while others fall in love with the village prostitute. The commanding lieutenant discovers his talent for fresco painting, and restores the island’s church, whilst his eleven members of the platoon serve as models for the followers of Jesus and other saints.
In a way, this movie is about forgetting and forgiving. As the soldiers collectively forget their identity, they become part of the islander community. However, as the war ends, the island’s male abducted population returns to reclaim the village.
Reluctantly the Italians leave the island. Only one of them hides in a barrel, after having married the village’s prostitute.
This movie is highly entertaining. Furthermore, it plays in a rarely portrayed theatre of the WWII. Most importantly, it portrays the development of human society in the context of compassion, where animosity and lack of understanding give way to trust and friendship.
I highly recommend this movie to spectators interested in psychology and human development.
