Review by Karen Ackermann
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The plot is simple: Get the Acheron. One wonders how it can take three hours to do so but the time is filled so well that it does not feel like three hours have passed in the movie theater. With a simple plot and minimal dialog, the focus of this film is on the details of the men and their lives on board a British naval fighting ship in 1804. Even so, these details are made a smooth part of the story line and are not belabored. Patrick O'Brian, author of the Jack Aubrey-Stephen Maturin series upon which this movie is based, did his historical research well. His novels are based on original sources such as log-books, official letters, and contemporary accounts or memoirs. Although he admits to taking great liberties with names, dates, and minor events--changing them to suit his needs--he nevertheless wrote within the context of general historical accuracy. This makes for a great read and a thrilling movie. O'Brian brought the details of a sea-bound life in the early nineteenth century to the page and this movie reproduces the same on screen. By 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte is well on his way to conquering Europe. He has sold French territory to the young United States, the Louisiana Purchase which Lewis and Clark are busily exploring, to help finance his war. Now, he wants mastery of the seas as well as the continent. The British government has sent Jack Aubrey, Master and Commander of the Surprise, to take the French Acheron as a prize. With him is his long-time friend, ship's surgeon, and intelligence agent, Stephen Maturin. The details are everywhere. Clothing for officers and sailors. Ages ranging from the very young boys (some of whom command men decades older than themselves) to the oldest men with gray hair who still serve as able-bodied seamen. Cannons with names carved on their wooden carriages. Sleeping conditions. Differences between the captain's quarters and those of everyone else's. Differences in the food and drink served officers and that served the men. Manning the pumps, dropping the lead, operating the lines and sails to make the best of the wind. Shipboard discipline: flogging a disrespectful sailor, dealing with becalmed seas and the boredom that ensues. Sailors' superstitions. Surgery. Death and burial at sea. The time it takes for one ship to catch another and the advantages of having a wind favorable to oneself and not the enemy. Ingenuity to secure successful capture of the enemy and survival when rounding Cape Horn in an icy storm. Violence, too, is everywhere but the scenes are fast, almost too fast to even take in the action--one wonders how anyone could have fought well in such chaos--and there is little gore displayed on screen. We don't need to see it to imagine it. And imagination can be a powerful tool, not only for the audience but for the men in 1804 who believed so strongly in their superstitions that one young officer would kill himself rather than continue to jinx the Surprise. So while we watch the fighting, we don't need to see the graphic depiction of the slaughter resulting from battles at sea. We can imagine how bad it really was to be on board ships of the line that broad-sided each with barrage after barrage of cannon fire and then added rifles, pistols, and swords to the fighting complement as boarding parties landed. Battles at sea in 1804 were close-in fights with deadly weapons that tore bodies and ships to pieces. Despite the main title of the movie, this is not a faithful rendition of Patrick O'Brian's first book, Master and Commander. To name just two differences: in the book, Jack and Stephen meet for the first time and their initial meeting is somewhat strained while the movie has had them sailing together for years; and, in the book, Jack commands the Sophie, not the Surprise, a ship featured in a future volume. Scenes are taken from several of O'Brian's books in the Aubrey-Maturin series, but are well-blended for a seamless film. At first consideration, it would seem that this would be a stand-alone movie because of this combining that has already occurred but future ones may be in the offing nevertheless. The movie ends with a clear potential for a sequel. Despite the deceptively simple plot, this is a film that draws in the viewer for an unflinching look at life in the Royal Navy in 1804.
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