| Mediterraneo | |
|---|---|
 Original release poster | |
| Directed by | Gabriele Salvatores |
| Written by | Enzo Monteleone |
| Based on | The novelSagapò byRenzo Biasion[1] |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Italo Petriccione |
| Edited by | Nino Baragli |
| Music by |
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| Distributed by | Variety Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Languages |
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| Box office | $4.5 million[2] |
Mediterraneo is a 1991 Italianwarcomedy-drama film directed byGabriele Salvatores and written byEnzo Monteleone. The film is set duringWorld War II and concerns a group of Italian soldiers who become stranded on an island of theItalian Dodecanese in theAegean Sea, and are left behind by the war. It won theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992.[3]
In 1941, one year afterItaly joinedGermany against the Allies inWorld War II, a small group of misfit Italian soldiers is sent toMegísti, a small Greek island in theAegean Sea, for four months of lookout duty. The soldiers include a lieutenant who likes art, a macho sergeant, a ski instructor accompanied by his beloved donkey Silvana, and other quirky people. They are not very good soldiers, but a cross section of average, independent men. The catchphrase "One face, one race" occurs throughout the story.
Expecting an attack, the soldiers take many inept precautions. They find asmall town with no people. That night, they see bombing on the horizon, and, by radio interception, discover that the ship that was intended to pick them up has been destroyed. Mysteriously, people reappear in the village; the villagers say they hid because the Germans had taken all the men, but having seen that the Italians are harmless, they have decided to return to their normal lives. It's not long before everyone's sunny nature appears. The Italian soldiers, unacquainted with a war they clearly do not sense as theirs, are absorbed into the life, heat and landscape of the idyllic island.
The localOrthodox priest befriends the lieutenant, an amateur painter, and asks him to restore the murals in his church. Meanwhile two soldiers, who are brothers, befriend a young woman who is a shepherdess. They eventually consummate their friendship with the shepherdess who in turn loves them equally. Sergeant Lo Russo, the only member of the crew with a fiery spirit for war, takes up folk dancing and begins to reflect on his place in the universe. Meanwhile, the shyest soldier, Farina, falls in love with the island's prostitute named Vasilissa. The two get married and remain on the island to pursue Vasilissa's dream of opening a restaurant. The rest of the group returns to Italy.
In their old age, three of the men are reunited on the island after visiting the tomb of Vasilissa, who had died.[4]
The film's producers arePenta Film [it], A.M.A. Film,Silvio Berlusconi Communications andCecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica [it].
The script was written byEnzo Monteleone and is loosely based on the 1954 autobiographical novelSagapò byRenzo Biasion (With Sagapò meaning "I love you" in the Greek language); the script and novel show marked differences in how they portray the Italian army in Greece, with the novel giving a more realistic account of both.[5]
Filming took place on the Greek island ofKastellórizo in theDodecanese island complex.
Mediterraneo was released in Italy on 31 January, 1991 byPenta Distribuzione before premiering at the1991 Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September, 1991, where its North American distribution rights were purchased byMiramax Films. Internationally, the film was truncated by 10 minutes, resulting in an 86-minute cut.
The film was submitted as theItalian entry for theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in November 1991.[6] It was released in the United States in March 1992, a week before theAcademy Awards,[2] and made its worldwide run over the next two years.
The film grossed $4.5 million in the United States and Canada,[2] and was the highest-grossing non-English language film at the US box office that year,[7] but was later surpassed byIndochine, which was released at Christmas 1992 and grossed most of its revenue in 1993.[8]
Mediterraneo was received mostly positively by film critics. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an 80% score, based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10.[9]
Several critics linked the movie to the tradition ofItalian neorealism. Nevertheless, the victory of the Academy Award raised some eyebrows, withThe Washington Post describing the movie as a "schmaltzy island fantasy", and theFilm Journal calling it a "clichéd number".[10]Roger Ebert claimed that this was the only film he ever walked out of because it was "utterly without redeeming merit".[11] However, he previously wrote that he had walked out of films likeJonathan Livingston Seagull[12] andCaligula.[13]
Among historians, the movie was discussed as a prime example of the myth ofItaliani brava gente, the popular Italian belief that Italian soldiers were not complicit inwar crimes and had distinguished themselves through humanity and compassion during World War II — in stark contrast to their ideologically motivated and brutal German allies. It has been argued that the movie does not make any reference to the atrocities committed by Italians during theAxis occupation of Greece while portrayingRoyal Italian Army soldiers as essentially good-natured people, if not, innocent buffoons. In reality, the burning of villages, shooting of civilians andrapes were common features of the Italian occupation. However, the film shows Italian aggressors mingling with the locals and even establishing consensual erotic relationships with Greek women.[14][15][16]
It won theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992.[3]
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