GOLDEN OLDIE 24: Master and Commander

 

This is the last entry in my Russell Crowe hagiography, and my favorite - bar Gladiator, of course.  If I ever revise my Blogger biography I mean to add this to my list of best movies, & maybe drop Parent Trap (cute though it undoubtedly is).

Part of the reason I am so high on Master and Commander is that I know the story by heart.  I have read Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin 20-book series at least three times.  I feel like I went to college with Maturin & played football against Aubrey.  Hell, I dream 19^th century naval warfare!  In this movie I could have told you the name of every character down to the most insignificant, before the movie identified him.  And I do mean “him”; there is only one woman shown, and she for only a few seconds.  A chick-flic this isn’t.

The story is engrossing.  Aubrey (Crowe) is in charge of a frigate – a small man of war of the time (early 18^th century) – and ordered to prevent a larger, better armed French ship from rounding Cape Horne and feasting on British merchant shipping in the Pacific.  Much naval battle ensues, as well as some gut-wrenching scenes of combat with storms south of the Cape.  Maturin, the ship’s doctor, is an accomplished naturalist, a good amateur musician, and Aubrey’s friend; he is played, very ably, by Paul Bettany.  Bettany is featured in some fantastic scenes in the Galapagos Islands; these alone are worth the price of admission.

In passing:  I read somewhere that certain corporations require their executives to study this movie; Captain Aubrey’s way of behavior toward his crew apparently is judged to be exemplary, by the HR types. 

So, no use babbling on.  Go see this splendid movie, and marvel how completely the John Nash of A Beautiful Mind morphed into the Captain James Aubrey of this film.  So, hurray for Russell Crowe, and I am through with him – for awhile.  A