Pascali's Island

Pascali's Island is a 1988 British drama film based on the 1980 novel by Barry Unsworth. It was written and directed by James Dearden. It stars Ben Kingsley, Charles Dance, Helen Mirren and Kevork Malikyan . It was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. The action takes place in 1908 on the fictional Ottoman-ruled Greek island of Nisi. The film was largely shot on the Greek island of Symi and in Rhodes in the late summer of 1987. Plot In 1908 at Nisi, a small Greek Island under Ottoman rule, Turkish officials, Greek rebels, German emissaries and other foreign mercenaries mingle as they all try to keep the upper hand in that remote part of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Basil Pascali, a half-British half-Maltese man, considers himself a local feature on the island. Since his arrival twenty years before, he has spied for the Sultan, sending detailed reports about suspicious activities. He has no idea whether anybody reads his observations as he never receives a reply, but his payment still arrives regularly so he continues his work as an informant with unfailing eagerness. Pascali's suspicions are aroused by the arrival of Anthony Bowles, a British archaeologist, whose purpose in visiting the island is unclear. Basil quickly befriends Bowles at the hotel’s lounge bar and offers his services as an interpreter. Pascali introduces Bowles to his close friend Lydia Neuman, an Austrian painter resident on the island. While Lydia and Anthony chat, Pascali slips into Bowles' hotel room to investigate. In Bowles' suitcase, Pascali finds a carved marble head but nothing that reveals Bowles' purpose on the island. Needing help arranging a deal to lease some land from the local Pasha, Bowles hires Pascali as a interpreter. At Bowles' insistence, the agreement is sealed officially with a contract. Suspecting something unusual, Pascali warns Bowles that the Pasha is not a man to be crossed. Meanwhile the Turkish authorities tell Pascali that he will be held responsible if Bowles fails to make the full payment.