Mediterraneo

Mediterraneo is an Italian comedy set during the Second World War. A small group of Italian soldiers is put ashore on a little Greek island in the Aegean with orders to watch for enemy ships and hold the place if it is attacked. The island appears deserted at first, and with no enemy in sight the men settle into a relaxed routine. When their ship is destroyed, they are left cut off from the war and the outside world, and they gradually become part of life among the island's women, children and elderly residents, far from the fighting.

Gabriele Salvatores directed the film, working from a screenplay by Enzo Monteleone, with Mario Cecchi Gori, Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Gianni Minervini producing. It came second in Salvatores' filmography, between Marrakech Express and Nirvana, and it shares with those two a concern with travel and with the director's own generation. The cast includes Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Bigagli, Giuseppe Cederna, Claudio Bisio, Gigio Alberti and Ugo Conti.

Released in 1991, the film runs 96 minutes and took about 5 million dollars worldwide. Audiences rate it well: 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb from around 18,000 votes, and 7.6 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly a thousand. Critics were more measured, giving it 6.2 out of 10 across 15 reviews.