Jay Mouton
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D’arcy, Lee Ingleby
I had been looking forward to seeing Russell Crowe’s new movie for a few weeks. Then I read a review on the movie in this week’s Enigma that seemed to rather pan the flick. I’ll confess that it dampened my initial enthusiasm, but I was determined to wander forth and check the movie out. I’m glad I did and I sincerely believe that Daniel Kraus, the reviewer, missed the boat, I mean ship.
While I’ll admit the movie did not possess the strongest plot line I’ve ever encountered I believe that it was a more than adequate sea yarn. The storyline was simple enough. Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) is given orders to find and sink a French warship located somewhere off the coast of Brazil. The captain and crew find, or should I say are found by, the French warship and have a bloody encounter with the “phantom” ship — the good captain and crew lose round one.
The chase is on. Soon Captain Aubrey and crew are chasing the phantom ship along the coast of South America, around the Cape of South America, and then all the way up to the Galapagos Islands. There is a good deal of hit and miss going on, but that’s not the most fascinating thing about the chase, or the movie for that matter. This movie is an interesting study of what life might have been like aboard a 19th Century British Warship. I believe this is where Kraus’ interpretation of this movie takes on water and, well, sinks.
As I got caught up in the lives of the men under Captain Aubrey’s command I found myself fascinated by the trivial elements that made up those lives spent, for the most part, at sea - the watch shifts, the bland diets, the constant dampness, the cramped quarters, the almost complete lack of privacy, and so on. Master and Commander seems a profound glimpse of the watery world of the sailors of days of yesteryear.
Intensity addicts fear not, this movie has many moments of intensity. From the first flash from the cannon of the phantom ship and the whoosh of the incoming balls smashing deck and deck hand I was caught up in the confusion of battle - the sound and sight of ship wood splintering and flying all about, the screams of wounded or dying men. The spray of blood, sweat and ocean water all combined for effect and found me magically transported onto the ship with the warring sailors. The scenes of shipboard medical operations seem to catch the grim reality of such horrid situations.
What I think really captured my movie loving heart were the scenes of friendship along with a vast loneliness aboard Aubrey’s ship. Captain Aubrey and the ship’s doctor (Paul Bettany) were lifelong friends. The relationship between young Coxswain Barrett Bonden (Billy Boyd) and Captain Aubrey seemed almost like father and son - completely natural and warm. There's also the lonely alienation and suicide of a somewhat inept midshipman named Hollom. All of these relationships are reflective of life and all the joy and heartbreak contained within.
Master and Commander is an adventure movie about men at war upon the ocean. The movie is not supposed to be a history lesson, a masterpiece of theatrical skills, or a message movie. Master and Commander is supposed to be exciting, exhilarating, and fun. It is.
Jay Mouton
m_mouton@bellsouth.net