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MINI MOVIE REVIEW:
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is a brilliant naval movie that takes place in 1805 during
the Napoleonic Wars with England and France bitter enemies. The land wars in Europe are replicated to a smaller extent by
the ships of each nation which might chance upon the other on the high seas. In these battles, anything goes, and the assets
of the losing ship become fair game and war booty for the officers of the winning ship.
Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) is captain of the British ship, HMS Surprise, a smaller warship that is no match for
the much larger French battleship, the Acheron, that Aubrey has been commissioned to capture before it rounds the southern
tip of South America and sails into the Pacific Ocean.
The sea battles in this movie, while quite exciting and faithfully recreated, are surpassed by the more than realistic
representation of living aboard a ship of war which spends many months, if not years, away from home port. Heading the list
is the wonderfully filmed relationship between the ship's captain, Aubrey, and the ship's surgeon, Dr. Stephen Maturin, two
long time friends who live, argue, make war, and even make music by playing duets together after dinner.
"Master and Commander" is such a good movie that it is guaranteed to capture a large number of Oscar nominations.
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MOVIE CRITIQUE:
"Master and Commander" is one of the best movies of the year and probably the finest naval movie ever filmed.
I predict multiple Oscar nominations for this film, including one for Best Picture, a Best Actor nod for Russell Crowe, a
Best Supporting Actor nod for Paul Bettany, and a Best Director nod for Peter Weir. And I wouldn't discount Oscar nominations
for Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay.
This movie, adapted from the two of the many novels of Patrick O'Brian about the life at sea of Captain Jack Aubrey, is
much more than a travelogue. First, it is set in 1805 against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars with France the bitter enemy
of Britain and the ships of each nation open to the predations of the other. Ships of both countries run the risk of being
attacked and destroyed with their crews either losing their lives or dragooned into a life of servitude aboard the winning
ship.
The realism in this movie is just astonishing. And by realism I am referring to the scenes of everyday life aboard a naval
war ship during the early Nineteenth Century. While the battle sequences are certainly thrilling enough on their own, it must
be noted that these scenes actually make up only a very small part of this movie.
What really carries this movie and elevates it far above the normal is the interaction of the various characters who inhabit
this ship, from Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), called "Lucky Jack" by his very appreciative and respectful
crew members, all the way down to the lowliest members of the crew. It is really fascinating to see how the various elements
of the crew up and down the chain of the command structure relate to each other.
There are two story line elements of great interest which stand out here. One concerns a point of which I was heretofore
unaware, which is that young men, actually boys hardly in their teens, who were often sent by their families out to sea to
apprentice to be an officer. One young man on this ship, Blakeny (Max Pirkis), is the son of an English Lord, so this must
have been a matter of considerable pride for him to be able to receive his commission. And there are several other young apprentices
just like Blakeny aboard the HMS Surprise.
The other is the political nature of life aboard a ship that becomes a Petri dish of sorts for jealousies and rivalries
to brew, sometimes out of control. Some get promoted, like the young man who is promoted to Captain at the end of the movie.
The gutsy young Blakeny will certainly be in this group when he comes of age. On the other hand, some other unfortunate men
prove mentally or emotionally unfit to progress very far up the chain of command on this or any other naval ship.
In spite of this chain of command that reserves all the power to the officers of the ship, the crew, in fact is far from
helpless. Hollum (Lee Ingleby), a young officer in training, can't seem to muster the respect that he must have to succeed
as an officer, and the crew members, all of whom are quite superstitious after spending most of their lives dependent upon
the vagaries of life on the open seas, turn on him and curse him behind his back as being a harbinger of ill fortune. This
rather sad and pathetic individual actually comes to believe that he is bad luck and ends up committing suicide in order to
remove the curse of his presence from the ship.
But by far the richest aspect of "Master and Commander" is the warm and respectful relationship between Captain
Jack Aubrey and the surgeon of the ship, Dr. Stephen Maturin. These two men are long time friends and speak to each other
with few or no holds barred. They live together, argue together, fight together, and each shares his intellectual passions
in life with the other.
Both men play stringed musical instruments and the melodies of their after dinner playing waft throughout the ship, much
to the consternation of the crew, who desire music of a much livelier nature. Aubrey's passion is his military career and
military history, which he discusses in great detail with Maturin.
For his part, Maturin's passion is not in his medical operations but rather in his being a naturalist of a Darwinian stripe.
Passing as they do near the Galapagos Islands brings a special thrill to Maturin's heart when he discovers numerous species
of animals, including a flightless cormorant, unknown to the rest of the scientific world. Dr. Maturin is delighted to find
a budding naturalist in young Blakeney, who finds strange beetles and other fauna for him to record by drawing them in precise
detail.
"Master and Commander" also very intelligently and capably brings us into the "how to's" of a ship
operation as a small floating village with needs for food, water, repairs and so on. Seaports in distant lands serve as refurbishment
factories for all manner of goods needed by this ship as well as all the other ships plying their trade on the open water.
It is in one of these quick stopovers in a Brazilian port that a young lady, the only one seen in this movie, gazes admiringly
up at Aubrey.
One particular matter of great concern is the omnipresent hazard of adverse weather conditions. First the members of the
ship nearly freeze to death rounding the southern tip of South America. And then the ship gets trapped passing through the
dreaded tropics of the Pacific Ocean where the trade winds fall off, leaving the ship floating nearly lifeless in the water
and all her passengers suffering immeasurably from the heat.
The danger of this is brought home when you realize that these men do not have the understanding of these weather patterns
that we do today. Furthermore, too many days becalmed in these hot tropical waters can also mean that the ship will run the
very real danger of running out of water resulting in the members of her crew dying from thirst.
This is a special movie, a movie about men for men and surely also for the women who love them from a very great distance
back home in England. Don't go expecting to see any women in this movie. The one woman who does appear is the same Brazilian
maiden who appears in the previews of this film, and you will see no more of her in the movie than you do in the preview.
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MOVIE SYNOPSIS:
The HMS Surprise, one of the smaller warships in His Majesty's navy, has been secretly commissioned to hunt down the much
larger French warship, the Acheron, before it passes around the southern tip of South American and into the Pacific Ocean.
There is great concern in the Home Office that a ship of this size will end up controlling sea passage in the Pacific, to
the great detriment of any English ships, naval or commercial, that have to pass through the area.
In the the dense fog off the Brazilian coast Captain Aubrey (Russell Crowe) spots the shadowy form of a ship. When he
sees the lights of multiple cannons firing, he knows that they are in for trouble and he instantly commands his men to throw
themselves flat on the deck. Cannon balls whistle by and considerable damage is done to the Surprise, including her main mast
being rent asunder.
Crippled in their present condition, Aubrey steers his ship into the fog and into an area of rocky shoals so shallow that
he knows that the far larger Acheron will be unable to pursue them. His men and especially his good friend, the ship's surgeon,
Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), fully expect him to give up the fight and sail for home, but Aubrey has other plans. Between
resting and doing repair work inside the protection of these shoals and later pulling into a Brazilian port, he is able to
buy all the necessary equipment to repair the ship and sail on after his quarry.
Once again on the high seas, the captain and crew of the HMS Surprise are once again shocked to see the Acheron come up
upon them a second time from the rear, a considerable tactical advantage as there are no cannon that can fire from the rear
of the ship.
On the high seas it is far better to chase than to be the chased, especially by a ship much faster and larger than your
own. Aubrey curses to himself about the good fortune or perhaps the more than capable seamanship of this French warship while
the crew mutters under their breaths about this being a "ghost ship," the most unlucky of all ships.
Captain Jack isn't called "Lucky Jack" for nothing. He has his men prepare a feint in the form of a small raft
with lanterns fixed so as to fool the pursuing ship into thinking that this is the stern of the HMS Surprise. The raft is
set adrift as darkness falls and the Surprise then takes a sharp right angle turn to get out of the area before their fake
ship is sunk by cannon fire.
The Acheron is nowhere in sight by the morning light. They have escaped mortal danger once again. Captain Aubrey's secret
instructions are to pursue the Acheron only to the southern border of Brazil, but he has other plans. This is now a grudge
match, and Aubrey will pursue the Acheron wherever it goes. There will eventually have to be a fight to the death, and whether
this takes place in the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean is of no concern to Aubrey.
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