Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Year:  2003

Filming:  Color

Length:  138 minutes

Genre:  Action/Adventure/Drama/History/Swashbuckler/War

Maturity:  PG-13 (for mild language and battle sequences)

 Cast: Russell Crowe (Capt. Jack Aubrey), Paul Bettany (Stephen Maturin), Max Pirkis (Midshipman Blackney), Lee Ingleby (Midshipman Hollom), Max Benitz (Midshipman Calamy), James D’Arcy (First Lt. Thomas Pullings), Billy Boyd (Barret Bonden, Captain’s Coxswain), Joseph Morgan (William Warley, Captain of Mizzentop)

Director:  Peter Weir

Personal Rating:  5 Stars

***

    As you’ve probably gathered from my past film reviews, I feel that most modern attempts at historical adventure epics tend to trip over their own feet in efforts to be bigger-and-better than all that has gone before, and generally lose track of historical veracity as well as the magic of good story-telling. Not so with Master and Commander. While I think its greatest set-back may be a somewhat ponderous pace, it is an admirably accurate drama with relatable characters and the right balance between dark and light aspects of men at war.

    

    Russell Crowe stars as Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey, a British Naval commander in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, who is ordered to locate the French privateer ship, Acheron, and either capture or destroy her. The task is far from an easy one, as the captain and his crew embark on a voyage to "the far side of the world" to find the enemy vessel that is nearly twice the size of the Aubrey's ship, HMS Surprise. In the process, enemy ambushes, fire-fights, and ocean storms cost the British heavy casualties.

    Along the way, “Lucky Jack” goes head-to-head with his best friend, the Irish ship’s physician Dr. Stephen Maturin, over conflicting interests. While they are both deeply opposed to Napoleon’s tyranny, Aubrey whole life is dedicated to battle while Maturin longs to better humanity through scientific research. When morale on board begins to plummet, the sailors make a scape-goat of a shy and sensitive young midshipman, Mr. Hollom, and Aubrey does not intervene strongly enough to put and end to it. Ultimately, Hollom throws himself overboard.

   Aubrey feels guilty over this, but is now obsessed with locating Acheron, refuses to pause even for much needed refreshment or repairs. He also further alienates Dr. Maturin by refusing to let him go in search of plant and animals specimens when they finally reach the Galapagos Islands. The doctor accuses the captain of letting his own pride supersede his duty and their friendship, which the latter indignantly denies while at the same time pulling rank to keep Maturin in line.

    But Aubrey finds himself put to the ultimate test when Maturin is accidentally wounded on deck while one of the other officers is trying to shoot down an albatross. His only chance of survival is for him to have immediate surgery, and the procedure can only be properly preformed on land. Now Aubrey is faced with a dire choice: to stop the ship in order to save his friend's life, or to continue his pursuit of the French privateer at all costs.

    This film is an excellent salt-sea yarn that highlights the importance of comradeship, friendship, and a fierce refusal to submit to tyrants. Russell Crowe is definitely at his absolute best in this performance, and I don’t any of his other roles ever rivaled his portrayal of “Lucky Jack” Aubrey. I love his suave yet swashbuckling demeanor, his sense of humor, and the ironical questions he puts to his men, urging them to fire fast, keep up the fight, and never surrender: “Do you want to see a guillotine in Piccadilly? Do you want to call…Napoleon your king? Do you want your children to sing ‘La Marseillaise’?”  His crew responds in rousing unison: “NO!”

    When the Acheron is finally found and the real fighting is about the commence, Aubrey continues to be an inspirational leader, declaring, “England is under threat of invasion, and though we be on the far side of the world, this ship is our home. This ship is England.” When the Union Jack is raised and they launch their attack on Acheron, Aubrey bellows, “For England, for home, and for the prize!” Although Lord Nelson never features physically in this film, and is only referenced to with great reverence as an almost mythological figure, Aubrey seems to fill in very well for him, making the character traits of Nelson come to life on the big screen.

    The plot stays comparatively historically accurate, authentically portraying of the chain of command and daily life on board a ship in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. There are thankfully no overt modern perspectives projected into the past, and we get to see our ancestors as human being, with virtues and vices just like us, instead of super-galactic heroes and buffoonish villains. Also, we get to observe how both the officers and the rank-and-file feel about events, instead of having one side take up all the air time.

    The music score is excellent, and I felt especially moved by the pounding snare drums used to demonstrate the coursing movement of the ship against the ocean in hot pursuit of the enemy. Plus, they tossed in a few good old salt sea shanties, ballads, and tunes, including two of my personal favorites: “Spanish Ladies” and “O’Sullivan’s March”.  The costuming was also very good, with the officer’s garb being especially interesting to behold. Who knew the midshipman could wear top-hats in combat?

    Morally, there is nothing particularly reprehensible, save for a few mild curses on the part of the soldiers, which is certainly nothing to complain considering how colorful the REAL sailors no doubt were in there verbiage! Interestingly for a historical epic, there is a noted lack of romance in this film. In fact, the only women showing up in the movie at all are some native girls who visit the ship when HMS Surprise stops off to resupply. This turns out to be fortunate overall, since it saves us all from another sappy, Titanic-type affair, or R-rated shenanigans in the Great Cabin. It’s a pity female characters in most modern historical flicks get such poor treatment, but such is often the case.

    Religious elements include Aubrey reciting several heart-felt prayers as part of his duty in commending his slain men to the deep. In the case of Mr. Hollom, who commits suicide, it is particularly moving when the captain asks pardon of God for himself and his crew for having failed him as a friend. After the epic battle between Surprise and Acheron, Aubrey leads his crew in The Lord’s Prayer, in which everyone is deeply choked up before letting their dead (many of them mere boys) slip into the see forever. In the film, there are also subtle references to the relationship between God and science, providence and free will, and an undercurrent that the characters portrayed do have an underlying belief in a Creator and something beyond this sphere, even if they are not particularly expressive about it. The opening of the film sets this tone when the crewmen are refereed to as “souls.”

    On the down-side of the film, be prepared to spend a lot of time on board a rocking ship and brace yourself to watch several sailors get seasick and throw up their breakfasts! Given the subject matter, I guess there was no real way for the film-makers to avoid the long, drawn-out maritime excursion, but by the time the crew finally takes a hiatus on the Galapagos Islands, we are as thrilled to get off HMS Surprise as they are! Depending on one’s attention span, it all could get a bit tedious, and there are probably a few hanging-around-on-deck sequences that could be fast-forwarded if desired.

    There is a fair amount of battle-related violence, plus brain surgery, an arm amputation, and a stomach operation performed with mirrors! We do not see the actual latter operation being performed, but only the tweezers holding the bloodied bullet after it is removed. Blood is seen smeared on the decks during battle, and men are shot and bludgeoned close to the camera lens, but these shots are not unnecessarily gory or explicit. There are a lot of jerky motions that let us know something happened to so-and-so, but not it too much graphic detail. Still, for younger audiences, it would no doubt be pretty intense.

    To point out a few rather humorous glitches in the story-line, Aubrey is shown as being stabbed by a French sailor in the last battle, yet no reference is made to that wound, and the captain seems to be in perfect health thereafter. Furthermore, Aubrey allows said enemy sailor to crawl back under the hatch from which he just emerged, presumably to prepare to stab another unsuspecting British tar! Also, it’s note-worthy to mention my own temporary confusion when Mr. Hollom rapidly grabbed that cannon ball and leapt overboard! My first though was: What was that? His favorite cannon ball or something? Like, a favorite nanny blanket or teddy bear? ;-)

    But if you can get past these minor kinks in the plot, Master and Commander is a really well-made film about courage, loyalty, and high adventure that shows off one of the most interesting and glorious moments in the British experience. I enjoy watching and re-watching it, and am most thankful to my guy-friends who got me hooked. So, if you’ve the heart and stomach for it, raise your colors and prepare to board: this flick is not for the faint-hearted!

Captain Jack Aubrey and his midshipmen watch for the Acheron