Metadata:
Title- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Year- 2003
Producer/Director- Peter Weir
Accessed via Amazon Prime Video
Themes
One of the major themes which this film addresses is the harsh and brutal reality which sailors of the napoleonic era often faced while at sea, and the ways they justified their own participation in such a dangerous occupation to themselves and each other. Weather it was for king and country, for money, or simply for adventure, each sailor has their own reasoning for joining the royal navy and putting themselves in harms way. Another theme within this movie is the prevalence of superstition onboard ships and how it affected the day to day lives of sailors. This film heavily reinforces the importance of superstition in the minds of the ship’s crew, not just towards enemy vessels, but also towards one another.
Key Moments
The first key moment I feel should be addressed in Master and Commander takes place during the dinner scene in the captain’s quarters when a young midshipman asks the captain about his experience serving with Lord Nelson during the Battle of the Nile, and inquires about what kind of a man he was. Captain Jack Aubrey, played by Russel Crowe responds with two anecdotes, the first of which is simply a joke about how Lord Nelson asked him to pass the salt. It is the second story however, in which the captain explains how during a particularly cold night, someone offers a coat to Nelson, to which he responds “He didn’t need it, he was quite warm. his zeal for king and country kept him warm.” I believe this is an especially significant moment in the film because it reveals just how powerful the tie to royalty was at the time, and how men would risk everything they had and quite possibly die for their monarchs. This scene takes place at around 33 minutes into the film. the second key moment occurs after a man falls overboard and is lost at sea during a storm when they are attempting to round Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America. The men place the blame on another midshipman by the name of Hollom, who is seen as cowardly because he was unable to reach the man in the rigging before the mast is broken off. After one of the soldiers fails to salute the higher ranking sailor, he faces punishment by being whipped in front of the crew. The following scene shows Mr. Hollom walking through the ship while each and every sailor goes out of their way to salute him, not as a sign of respect, but out of fear of being punished themselves. Mr Hollom then commits suicide by throwing himself overboard because he believes he has brought bad luck upon the ship. The scene takes place at around 1:20 minutes.
Teaching and learning:
I would absolutely use this film as a an education tool if it was relevant for the curriculum of my class. As I stated in my previous blog post, I believe this is one of the most historically accurate films ever made and its depiction of Napoleonic warfare and life at sea is unrivaled by any other. As a teacher, would ask students to identify what they thought the most significant parts of the movie were, and have them reinforce those findings with primary source material. I would also ask them to think about why the director chose to include those particular moments, and what he is trying to say about the overall themes that were present during that era. Additionally, I would want my students to identify why this film sticks out from others in terms of its historical accuracy, and identify at least one area where they think the film is not accurate.
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