World War II · Film · 1991
Mediterraneo
Eight misfit Italian soldiers are left to watch over a tiny Aegean island, lose their radio and their ship, and slowly forget the war as the islanders draw them into their lives.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 1 places.
Stop 1: Megisti (Kastellorizo), Aegean Sea
Key location
The soldiers find an empty village, then watch the islanders return; soon they are painting church murals, playing football and falling in love.
What really happened
Kastellorizo, or Megisti, the easternmost Greek-speaking island, had been ruled by Italy as part of the Dodecanese since 1912. In February 1941 British commandos landed there in Operation Abstention and were driven off by an Italian counterattack; the island's Greek population lived under Italian rule until Italy's armistice in September 1943, when the British took over.
The film's idyll is a fable: the Italian occupation of Greece from 1941 also meant requisitions and a famine that killed tens of thousands in the winter of 1941-42. After 1943 Kastellorizo's remaining inhabitants were evacuated, and a fire in 1944 destroyed much of the town. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Mediterraneo
- Directed by
- Gabriele Salvatores
- Countries
- Italy
- Languages
- Italian, Greek
- Released
- 1991
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Comedy
- Romance
