Yesterday Margaret and I watched the movie Mediterraneo. It is an Italian movie released in 1991 about a tiny, fictional incident during World War II. A squad of 8 misfit Italian soldiers is sent to garrison a Greek island. Their arrival is strange. There are no people in the single island village, or in the surrounding mountains. For the movie the absence of villagers is convenient. It allows the viewers to become familiar with the Italian soldiers, whose radio is broken so they can not communicate with the outside world.
The lieutenant in charge is a peace-time school teacher, quiet and patient. The sergeant is a blustering veteran of Italy's campaigns in Spain and North Africa. The other men each have their own unique characters, including the guy in charge of the squad's donkey who has more affection for his donkey than for the other men. There are two brothers terrified of the water, one married man desperate to return to his family, and the lieutenant's orderly who will be the soldier most transformed by this small island.
