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October 19, 2009 at 09:31:24     Permalink An Appreciation of the Movie "Master and Commander" Diary Entry by GLloyd Rowsey (about the author)

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The is the best movie for 13 year-olds I've ever seen. It stars Russell Crowe, James D.Arcy, and Paul Bettany, and it's set in 1804 on the high seas, with Britishhhh Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey pursuing a French Privateer from the Atlantic into the Pacific.

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The action-in-fog scenes are remarkable, and the portrayals of the young British seaman, including the ones who are officers at Lucky Jack's table, are also.

The obligatory visit to a Polynesian Isle is followed by the full emergence of the movie's second theme: Naturalism and Evolutionism in 1804, with the British ship Surprise's medical doctor adopting the young Lord (Paul Bettany) as his research assistant in the Galapagos, to which the Surprise steers in its pursuit of the French Privateer.

There is the little reverse-twist on late 18th century politics - you'd think the "Rights of Man" was a phrase coined in London, not Paris. And the movie, like most PG movies I've seen, treats mass mayhem like an enormous party and individual bravery as achievable by all.

But this is simply great entertainment. Forget your politics, forget the reality of wars for 130 minutes, and indulge yourself at 13. The only classes are the brave and the unbrave. And the "true" rewards are to go down in history with Lord Nelson or to be disappeared from history.

And as a final tease: the one joke in the entire 130 minutes is Captain Lucky Jack's telling his officers that their only choice is "between two weevils" - after he notices weevils in the ship's bread at his table.

 

"Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad." - Dostoevsky
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I'm sixty-eight and live in Northern California. I graduated from Stanford Law School in 1966 but have never practiced law. (more...)
 

 

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