{"id":82234,"date":"2026-09-04T09:47:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/?p=82234"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:47:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:47:59","slug":"master-and-commander-the-far-side-of-the-world-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/?p=82234","title":{"rendered":"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chalk this up as another one of those films that I should have watched long ago but the stars never quite aligned to make it happen. Its reputation as the best cinematic depiction of the Age of Sail bar none has only improved over time so there’s no excuse. Indeed mere minutes into the film we get a tense and astonishingly realistic ranged battle and it only gets better from there. Its only fault might be that it starts with Jack Aubrey already in his captaincy and his relationship with his crew well-established. That does mean more time watching a skilled captain at the height of his powers playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse at sea so it’s not a bad thing at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It is 1805 and Britain is at war with France. The HMS Surprise <\/em>captained by Jack Aubrey is ordered to intercept the French privateer Acheron <\/em>off the coast of Brazil. One morning when the unconfident midshipman Hollom has the watch, the Acheron <\/em>ambushes them, appearing out of the fog and firing cannonballs at them. Their rudder damaged and their return fire seeming ineffective, Aubrey has them escape by using their rowboats to help direct the ship under cover of the fog. There are numerous dead and the young midshipman Lord Blakeney has to have his right arm amputated. The officers urge Aubrey to return home for repairs as the Acheron <\/em>has proven to be a faster and more powerful ship than their own. Aubrey instead orders them to perform repair on shallow shoals and insists on pursuing the Acheron<\/em> afterwards. The French ship ambushes them a second time at night, taking advantage of favorable weather. They once again escape by launching a decoy raft lit with a lantern. Aubrey orders the ship to head to the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands where he suspects the Acheron <\/em>is hunting British whalers. The ship’s doctor and Aubrey’s close friend Stephen Maturin looks forward to collecting specimens there. But then they are stuck in becalmed waters, superstition takes hold among the crew and Aubrey is seen to be too obsessed with chasing the Acheron<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a true nautical film indeed as it takes place entirely at sea with the only landbound scenes being when they stop at the Gal\u00e1pagos. That means it can devote its full attention to what life is like on board a ship of Her Majesty’s Navy at the height of the Napoleonic Wars and it is glorious. I might not understand all of the nomenclature but I feel a thrill every time an officer issues an order and the crew scrambles to carry out the many tasks needed to keep a ship running. Perhaps more fascinating still is that the characters are all unapologetically people of their time and act as such. The officers are superior to the common men of the crew. They command respect and impose discipline without being tyrannical because that’s just how things are. That the French are the enemy is a matter of course and even the doctor must fight when the time comes. The grievous injury suffered by Lord Blakeney near the beginning tells us that this isn’t the kind of film where children are spared from harm. Indeed we see numerous other children among the crew as this was historical true for ships of the period. It’s as authentic a depiction of the era as anyone could reasonably ask for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Weir directs this with impressive bravura. The sudden naval battle involving a furious exchange of cannon-fire that blows apart pieces of the ship and fells crewmembers right and left feels something that belongs at the climax of a film instead of its opening act. Then he goes on to demonstrate the many other ways that two ships can confront one another at sea. It’s pure awesome. I love how it gets across the fact that a chase at sea is a matter of weeks and days given the distances and relative speeds of the ships. I love that morale and logistics matter and that the captain is mindful of the crew’s superstition. It’s so complete as a portrayal of the mission of a naval ship of that era. The relationship between Aubrey and the doctor might be the weakest part. The film wants to set Maturin one as a peer so as to have someone able to expose the captain’s human flaws. It’s clumsy though as there isn’t enough setup and having them play musical instruments together only goes so far as a shortcut. I am amused that their interactions feel very Star Trek<\/em>-like and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a direct inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film did okay at the box office but apparently not good enough to warrant a follow-up. Meanwhile the Pirates of the Caribbean<\/em> series spawned sequel after sequel. It seems that audiences much prefer a fantastical vision of the era rather than a grounded one. Fortunately the reputation of this film has improved over time and just how long can Johnny Depp play Jack Sparrow anyway, so one day we might actually turn this into a series after all. To me, it’s pretty much the perfect nautical film. I really should have watched this much earlier but watching this now also means that I can appreciate it more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chalk this up as another one of those films that I should have watched long ago but the stars never quite aligned to make it happen. Its reputation as the best cinematic depiction of the Age of Sail bar none has only improved over time so there’s no excuse. Indeed mere minutes into the film … Continue reading Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82234"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82323,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82234\/revisions\/82323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calltoreason.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}