The Far Side of the World (2003) – Nostalgia Central

Royal Navy Captain Jack Aubrey – aka “Lucky Jack” – is a courageous and wily warrior, a natural leader, a tolerably good fiddle-player and an amusingly bad punster. And his men love him and will follow him across the seas to do battle against impossible odds for King and country.

Mark down another impressive larger-than-life achievement for the chameleon Australian actor, Russell Crowe. This eagerly awaited sea adventure, the first film made from the score of best-selling novels by Patrick O’Brian, is all anyone could have ever hoped for.

Like O’Brian’s thickly and precisely detailed books, Peter Weir’s film revels in fascinating period imagery and sometimes-archaic turn-of-the-19th-century dialogue, along with the robust cannon fire and bloody swordplay that is necessary fodder for any tale of action before the mast.

Weir has long been an expert at putting exotic and unusual worlds on the screen – remember the Indonesia of The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), the Amish country of Witness (1985) and the plastic artificiality of The Truman Show (1998)?

Here he provides a view of the crowded and meticulously ordered life aboard a three-masted British frigate of the Napoleonic era. Nearly 100 men share deck and sleeping quarters on a ship barely half the length of a football field.

In a sense, Master and Commander is Das Boot, 150 years earlier. In that classic 1981 World War II submarine film, men are crowded into a small, claustrophobic space and do battle despite a badly damaged ship. And their captain is nearly as charismatic and forceful as Aubrey.

Weir’s movie bears a title nearly as long as the ship, because it’s largely based on two of Brian’s novels, Master and Commander and The Far Side of the World (although the script weaves together plot lines and details from 13 different novels in the 20-book series).

At this point in his naval career, Aubrey commands the HMS Surprise and is pursuing the larger, better-armed French privateer Acheron in the waters off South America and around the Galapagos Islands. It is 1805, and England is at war with Napoleon’s France.

At Aubrey’s side as friend, confidant, ship’s doctor and (sometimes) ship’s conscience is Stephen Maturin (played with subtle grace by Paul Bettany, Crowe’s imaginary college roommate in A Beautiful Mind). He offers the counterpoint of restraint.

After a brutal opening ambush leaves the HMS Surprise heavily damaged, Aubrey wages a high-stakes, cat-and-mouse tactical pursuit across two oceans to defeat the enemy.

Weir avoided CGI in favour of practical effects, building replica historic ships and filming on the open sea, inside massive water tanks at Baja Studios in Mexico, and on location in the Galapagos Islands.

The film was highly acclaimed and received 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.

It won two Oscars: Best Cinematography (for Russell Boyd’s stunning, atmospheric camerawork) and Best Sound Editing.

Despite its critical success and a global gross of $212 million, the film’s massive $150 million production budget cut profit margins and returned a lower commercial yield than hoped, ultimately cancelling initial plans for a cinematic franchise.

Captain Jack Aubrey
Russell Crowe
Dr Stephen Maturin
Paul Bettany
1st Lt. Tom Pullings
James D’Arcy
2nd Lt. William Mowett
Edward Woodall
Captain Howard, Royal Marines
Chris Larkin
Blakeney
Max Pirkis
Boyle
Jack Randall
Calamy
Max Benitz
Hollom
Lee Ingleby
Williamson
Richard Pates
Mr Allen
Robert Pugh
Mr Higgins
Richard McCabe
Mr Hollar, Boatswain
Ian Mercer
Mr Lamb
Tony Dolan
Preserved Killick
David Threlfall
Barrett Bonden, Coxswain
Billy Boyd
Joseph Nagle
Bryan Dick
William Warley (Captain of the Mizzentop)
Joseph Morgan
Able Seaman Joe Plaice
George Innes
Able Seaman Faster Doudle
William Mannering
Able Seaman Awkward Davies
Patrick Gallagher
Able Seaman Nehemiah Slade
Alex Palmer
Mr Hogg
Mark Lewis Jones
Padeen
John DeSantis
Black Bill
Ousmane Thiam
French Captain
Thierry Segall

Director
Peter Weir

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