Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
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| Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | |
|---|---|
| Image:Masterandcommanderposter.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Peter Weir |
| Produced by | Alan B. Curtiss |
| Written by | Peter Weir John Collee adapted from novels by Patrick O'Brian |
| Starring | Russell Crowe Paul Bettany Billy Boyd James D'Arcy |
| Music by | Iva Davies Christopher Gordon Richard Tognetti |
| Cinematography | Russell Boyd |
| Editing by | Lee Smith |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (most of the world) Miramax Films (Italy, Argentina, Japan theatrical) Universal Studios (France, Japan DVD) |
| Release date(s) | November 14 2003 |
| Running time | 138 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $150 000 000 Box Office Mojo |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin. It is adapted from three novels in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
Captain Jack Aubrey follows a French frigate into the Pacific Ocean in a chase that leads to a bloody climax. A subplot involves his friend Stephen Maturin's desire to explore the Galapagos to examine its fauna and flora; the hunt of Acheron repeatedly frustrates this desire in spite of Aubrey's intentions. This leads to tension between the two friends as Maturin accuses Jack (who has, it appears, far exceeded his original commission) of needlessly pursuing the Acheron in order to satisfy his own pride.
[edit] Plot
| The plot summary in this article or section is too long compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
In 1805, in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Surprise, commanded by Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, is off Brazil, on orders to intercept and capture or destroy the French privateer Acheron, bound for the South Seas and the Pacific. In the opening scene, the Surprise is bound by fog and low visibility. Midshipman Hollom sees a shape, resembling a three-masted ship, but it vanishes into the fog. Hollom hesitates and the deputy watch officer, Midshipman Callamy, orders the crew to beat to quarters.
Aubrey is unconvinced by Hollom’s description of the ship, and sends the men back to their posts, but does not stand them down. The Surprise is suddenly raked by cannon fire. Luckily, Aubrey had noticed the flashes in the fog moments before, and shouted to the crew to lie on the deck. The enemy appears out of the fog, a large three-master flying the French tricolore flag. It is immediately obvious that the Surprise is outmatched by this larger ship. The Surprise raises her own colors, the Red Ensign, and Captain Aubrey orders his ship into battle.
The battle goes badly for the Surprise. She is hit by enemy fire before her own guns are in range, injuring a number of the crew. When Surprise is finally in range, the French ship’s hull appears to be impervious to gunfire. Meanwhile the British ship is repeatedly hit with many casualties.
The Surprise is severely damaged by the French ship, now revealed to be the Acheron. With the hull pierced and water coming in, and the rudder damaged, Captain Aubrey orders the ship's boats to tow her into the fog. The ploy is successful, and the Acheron loses sight of the Surprise.
Later the Captain inspects the damage. The flooding is under control, but the ship is badly damaged. There are nine dead, and 27 wounded, including young Blakeney and the captain who has a splinter removed from his neck revealed by Maturin. Later in the Captain’s cabin, Sailing Master Allen informs Jack that the Surprise can make it back to Portsmouth with little more than basic repairs. Jack surprises his officers with his intention to carry out his orders, refit the ship as best they can at sea, and pursue the Acheron.
Over the next few days, the crew works to repair the ship. Blakeney’s arm turns gangrenous, forcing Dr. Maturin to amputate. The Doctor also trepans Able Seaman Plaice’s skull, which was fractured in the attack.
Once the ship is repaired, Jack is visited by two of the sailors, Warley and Nagle, who present him with a model of the Acheron, which Warley apparently witnessed being built in Boston. Jack shows the model to his officers; they could not defeat the Acheron through regular broadsides, as her revolutionary design allows her hull planking to be much thicker than usual, though Jack notes that she is still vulnerable at the stern, like all ships at that time.
A few days later, the Surprise receives her first news of the Acheron while taking on supplies from a Brazilian settlement. The French ship is more than three weeks ahead of them.
The next morning, the Captain is awakened by shouts from above that a ship has been sighted astern. It is the Acheron, which has an advantageous angle of attack. Jack orders every one of the sails set, in a hope to outrun the enemy until nightfall.
As night falls, Acheron has advanced on Surprise enough to begin firing ranging shots at her. By placing lights on a decoy raft, resembling the lights of the Surprise, they fool the Acheron while they make a course change.
By the time they reach Cape Horn, the Surprise is following the Acheron. As the Horn is sighted, the Surprise loses sight of the Acheron as she is forced to bring in sail to avoid capsizing. The mizzen topmast breaks in the wind, as Mr. Hollom is sent to assist in the lowering of the sails. Warley is taken away with the sail. The ship is threatened and Jack is forced to cut away the mast which was Warley’s only hope. He orders Warley’s best friend, Joseph Nagle, to assist him. The Surprise is saved, but Warley is lost at sea. Afterwards, Maturin suggests that the chase has gone on too long, and that Jack may have become blinded by his own pride.
As Surprise turns north, entering the South Pacific, Aubrey gives his officers the ship’s new destination, the Galapagos Islands, where he is certain the Acheron will be headed, given that it is the position of Britain’s rich whaling fleet. The Doctor later tells Jack that the Galapagos are legendary to Naturalists such as himself. Jack promises his friend that he will be granted several days of exploring on the islands.
When the Surprise reaches the islands, the Doctor engages young Blakeney in a viewing of the new species, visible from the ship’s deck. Jack spots wreckage, and then a raft flying a white flag. The men on the raft turn out to be the surviving crew of the Albatross, a whaling ship, burned by a “big, black three-master”, which also captured many of their crew, and stole their valuable cargo of oil. Jack orders all hands to make sail to pursue the Acheron. This annoys the Doctor, who protests that Aubrey is breaking his word to let him explore. Jack retorts that his ship is not a private yacht. Stephen's spirits are later raised slightly by young Blakeney, who presents him with a beetle he found on the deck, calling it a ‘Galapagos beetle’.
Some days into their voyage from the Galapagos, Surprise is becalmed in blistering heat. Nagle is disrespectful and insubordinate towards Hollom. Jack witnesses this and orders that Nagle be flogged for disobedience, and later chastises Hollom for failing to prevent this.
Finally, Hollom, believing himself to be cursed, commits suicide by jumping into the ocean. At his memorial service on the deck the next morning, Jack is subdued, and asks God to forgive his and the crew’s failure to respect Hollom. A silence ensues, all the crew bowing their heads, during which a faint wind begins to ruffle the sails.
A few days later, Marine Captain Howard accidentally shoots Dr. Maturin. The untrained surgeon's mate informs Jack that unless the bullet can be removed it will cause infection. Just hours after this incident, a sail is spotted on the horizon ahead. Most believe it to be the Acheron again. Jack is now faced with a difficult choice: follow the ship he has chased almost a quarter the way around the globe, or save his closest friend.
Stephen regains consciousness as he is being carried on a stretcher from the Surprise’s boat to a flat spot on the side of a hill, where a tent has been erected. He realizes with shock that they have returned to the Galapagos.
As he is now conscious, the Doctor refuses to allow his assistant to perform the surgery; he does it himself with the aid of a mirror. He succeeds and recovers quickly. He is astonished to hear that Aubrey has given up the chase, intending to remain at the islands for at least a week. Stephen now has the opportunity to explore the Galapagos. Traveling the island with Blakeney and Padeen, he makes many discoveries, including a type of flightless cormorant and an amphibious iguana. From the top of a hill, as he examines a beetle, Stephen notices a large three-masted ship sailing into one of the island bays flying the French flag. The Acheron has returned. During their hurried return to camp, Stephen's bullet wound slows him down, forcing Padeen to release the captive specimens and carry the Doctor back to camp.
Surprise is transformed to ‘Syren’, a whaling ship, a disguise that Jack knows will attract the Acheron when she sees them. The Acheron takes the bait, turning to chase the Surprise. As the battle approaches, Jack gathers the crew on the gun deck, outlining their plan, and reminding the men of their obligation and duty to their country, and that "Surprise is on our side!”
As the unsuspecting French ship comes alongside, cannon and musket fire strike the Acheron. The guns succeed in toppling the Acheron’s mainmast, they cross and fire into her stern, cannon shot raking the Acheron causing many casualties and upsetting her cannon.
Leaving the "Surprise" under the command of Blakeney, Jack and Lieutenant Pullings lead the boarding parties but are ambushed themselves as the French sailors defend their ship. Master Allen, Nagle and many others of the Surprise’s crew are killed. The tide is turned when Callamy, promoted to acting Lieutenant, succeeds in freeing the crew of the Albatross.
Jack searches the Acheron for her captain, directed to the infirmary by a French sailor. When he arrives, a man introducing himself as Docteur de Vigny tells Jack that the French captain was killed. More sad news awaits Jack, as he finds Stephen standing over the body of young Callamy. A funeral service is later held on the deck of the Surprise.
The Acheron and Surprise are repaired. Jack gives command of the Acheron to Pullings, naming him ‘Captain’ Pullings, ordering him to take the French ship to Valparaiso, while the Surprise returns to the Galapagos.
As the Acheron sails away, Jack tells of his meeting with de Vigny, becoming angry with himself when Stephen reveals that he was told de Vigny had died months ago. As Jack gives orders to pursue the Acheron, Stephen is again denied the chance to explore the Galapagos. Jack notes that since the bird he seeks is flightless, it "isn't going anywhere."
[edit] Adaptation
The film is constructed from episodes from several novels in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. The main plot, in which Aubrey in HMS Surprise chases an enemy frigate round Cape Horn into the Pacific, is based loosely on The Far Side of the World, but the American frigate USS Norfolk in the book becomes the American-built French privateer Acheron in the film (the Acheron is based on 44-gun American frigates like the USS Constitution). The stern chase around Cape Horn is taken from the novel Desolation Island, although the Acheron replaced the Dutch ship of the line Waakzaamheid, the Surprise replaced the Leopard and in the book it is Aubrey who is being pursued around the Cape of Good Hope. The episode in which Aubrey deceives the enemy by means of a raft bearing lanterns is taken from Master and Commander, and the episode in which Maturin operates on himself to remove a bullet is taken from HMS Surprise.
The film is largely faithful in plot to the novels, although there are a few major departures from the series. In the movie, Stephen Maturin inadvertently gives Jack Aubrey the inspiration to disguise Surprise as a whaling ship to fool an enemy, implying that this is a new idea for Aubrey. However, in the first Aubrey/Maturin book Master and Commander, Aubrey regularly uses the tactic of disguising his ship during his very first command, and it is described as a common tactic used by warships to approach unsuspecting targets and avoid attention from larger enemy ships. The exploit of setting up a decoy of a large ship at night by attaching lights to a small boat was executed by the French privateer Robert Surcouf to successfully escape the British frigate HMS Sybille. It was also used by Lord Cochrane and described in his Autobiography of a Seaman, which was used by Patrick O'Brian as source material for his novel Master and Commander. In that novel, Jack Aubrey's first command, HMS Sophie escapes by using this tactic, while in the film it is Surprise which escapes Acheron using this trick.
The movie gives the impression that Jack Aubrey promotes his first lieutenant, Pullings, who receives his new captaincy with joy. In fact only the Admiralty could make such promotions, and the difficulty obtaining them is a recurring theme in the books. This was especially true for men such as Pullings, who as a member of a lower class without money or social connections might spend years hoping in vain for advancement. It was, however, possible for Captains (such as Aubrey) to make a lieutenant an Acting Captain for the duration of the commission — which was usually until the ship (in this case, the captured Acheron) arrived with all-important dispatches back in London (something which usually merited a promotion), and which is where Pullings is bound for — eventually — at the end of the film.
In the novel, Pullings has already been promoted to Commander, but has not yet been given a command of his own. He accompanied Captain Aubrey on this mission in order to avoid being left on shore with nothing to do, as well as improve his prospects for being given command of a ship by demonstrating his zeal for king and country.
Nowhere in the Aubrey/Maturin series of novels is Dr. Maturin shot by a Royal Marine. However, in the novel "H.M.S. Surprise" Maturin fights a duel with a Mr. Canning, a rival for Maturin's affections for Diana Villiers. Although Maturin is deadly with both sword and pistol, and kills Canning, he is wounded in the exchange and operates on himself to remove the deflected bullet from his chest.
Probably the largest difference between the film and the books is the profession of Stephen Maturin. In the books he is a spy for England (as well as being a physician and naturalist), but although several references to both his beliefs and to espionage in general are made, he is never shown to be a spy. The film also plays out the role of Hollom as a Jonah to a much greater extent. Hollom is shown ending his life by jumping over the side with a cannonball in his hands, whereas in the book he is presumed murdered by Horner, the ship's Gunner, when Hollom instigates and consummates an affair with Horner's wife. This romantic triangle was removed from the plot in the film.
The first two and final three chapters of The Far Side of the World do not appear in the film. Also, the prominent scene of Warley being sacrificed on the order of Capt. Aubrey does not appear in any of the books, and a substantial majority of the movie dialog is created by scriptwriters Weir and Collee.
[edit] Box Office History
According to www.boxofficemojo.com, the movie opened #2 in the first weekend of North American release, Nov. 14-16, 2003, grossing $25,105,990. It dropped to the #4 position in the second weekend and #6 in the third, and finished the domestic run with $93,926,386 in gross receipts. Outside of the U.S. and Canada the movie grossed $116,550,000, doing best in Italy (at $15,111,841) with an overall worldwide total of $210.5 million. As of Oct. 2007, this puts the film at #307 on the all-time worldwide gross ranking (unadjusted for inflation.)
[edit] Sequel Outlook
There are currently no announced plans for a sequel to be made by movie-rights holder 20th Century Fox, despite the remaining 20 books available in the Aubrey-Maturin series.
[edit] Cast
- Captain Jack Aubrey .... Russell Crowe
- Dr. Stephen Maturin .... Paul Bettany
- First Lt. Thomas Pullings .... James D'Arcy
- Second Lt. William Mowett .... Edward Woodall
- Captain Howard, Royal Marines .... Chris Larkin
- Midshipman William Blakeney .... Max Pirkis
- Midshipman Boyle .... Jack Randall
- Midshipman Peter Myles Calamy .... Max Benitz
- Midshipman Hollom .... Lee Ingleby
- Midshipman Williamson .... Richard Pates
- Mr. Allen, Sailing Master .... Robert Pugh
- Mr. Higgins, Surgeon's Mate .... Richard McCabe
- Mr. Hollar, Boatswain .... Ian Mercer
- Mr. Lamb, Carpenter .... Tony Dolan
- Preserved Killick, Captain's Steward .... David Threlfall
- Barret Bonden, Captain's Coxswain.... Billy Boyd
- Joseph Nagle, Carpenter's Mate .... Bryan Dick
- William Warley, Captain of Mizzentop .... Joseph Morgan
- Joe Plaice, Able Seaman .... George Innes
- Michael Doudle, Able Seaman .... William Mannering
- Awkward Davies, Able Seaman .... Patrick Gallagher
- Nehemiah Slade, Able Seaman .... Alex Palmer
- Mr. Hogg, Whaler .... Mark Lewis Jones
- Padeen Colman, Loblolly Boy .... John De Santis
- Black Bill, Steward's Mate .... Ousmane Thiam
- Young Sponge....Kostas Kurelias
- Captain of the Acheron .... Thierry Segall
- Private Trollope .... Aidan Black
[edit] Awards
[edit] 76th Academy Awards
- Won, Best Cinematography, Russell Boyd
- Won, Best Sound Effects Editing, Richard King
- Nominated, Best Picture
- Nominated, Best Director, Peter Weir
- Nominated, Best Art Direction
- Nominated, Best Sound Mixing
- Nominated, Best Costume Design
- Nominated, Best Film Editing
- Nominated, Best Visual Effects
- Nominated, Best Makeup
Master and Commander was released the same year as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which won every award of the eleven that it was nominated for. The two awards that Master and Commander won were in categories that The Return of the King was not nominated for.
[edit] 2003 National Board of Review
- #10 Film of the Year
[edit] Soundtrack
The score includes an assortment of baroque and classical music, notably the first of Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007, played by Yo-Yo Ma; the third (Adagio) movement of Corelli's Christmas Concerto (Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8); and a recurring rendition of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. The music played on cello before the end is Luigi Boccherini's String Quintet (Quintettino) for 2 violins, viola & 2 cellos in C major ("La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid"), G. 324 Op. 30.
The song sung in the wardroom is Don't Forget Your Old Shipmates.
[edit] Historical authenticity
The film's special edition DVD release contains behind-the-scenes material giving useful insights into the film-making process. Great efforts were made to reproduce the authentic look and feel of life aboard an early nineteenth century man of war. Some of the filming actually took place at sea on board Rose (a reproduction of the 18th century frigate HMS Rose), while other scenes were shot on a full-scale replica mounted on gimbals in a large tank. The Rose is now renamed HMS Surprise in honor of her movie role and moored at the San Diego Maritime Museum as a dockside attraction. There was a third ship, HMS Surprise which was a scale model built by Weta Workshop. A storm sequence was enhanced using digitally-composited footage of waves actually shot on board a modern replica of Cook's Endeavour rounding Cape Horn. All of the actors were given a thorough grounding in the naval life of the period in order to make their performances as authentic as possible.
[edit] Books about the movie
- 2003, UK, The Making of "Master and Commander": The "Far Side of the World", HarperCollins Entertainment (ISBN 0-00-715771-1), Pub date 6 October 2003, Paperback
- 2003, USA, The Making of "Master and Commander": The "Far Side of the World", W W Norton & Co Ltd (ISBN 0-393-05865-4), Pub date 6 October 2003, Hardback
[edit] External links
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World at the Internet Movie Database
- Official 20th Century Fox web site
Films by Peter Weir |
|---|
Homesdale • The Cars That Ate Paris • Picnic at Hanging Rock • The Last Wave • Gallipoli • The Year of Living Dangerously • Witness • The Mosquito Coast • Dead Poets Society • Green Card • Fearless • The Truman Show • Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World • Pattern Recognition • Shadow Divers |
de:Master & Commander – Bis ans Ende der Welt es:Master and Commander: Al otro lado del mundo fr:Master and commander : De l'autre côté du monde it:Master and Commander - Sfida ai confini del mare nl:Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World ja:マスター・アンド・コマンダー pl:Pan i władca: Na krańcu świata pt:Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World ru:Хозяин морей: на краю земли (фильм) fi:Master and Commander: Maailman laidalla sv:Master and Commander - Bortom världens ände tr:Dünyanın Uzak Ucu (film)
Categories: Articles lacking sources from April 2007 | All articles lacking sources | English-language films | Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention from July 2007 | 2003 films | Adventure films | American films | Napoleonic Wars films | Seafaring films | Films based on military fiction | Films directed by Peter Weir | Films shot in Super 35 | 20th Century Fox films | Miramax films | Universal Pictures films
