November 25, 2003

Master and Commander

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - My sister and I went to see this over the weekend. Pretty good. I was expecting a Bruckheimer production but it was much more subdued than one of those. I didn’t realize it was done by Peter Weir or I would have expected as much.

One of the emotions it conveyed was loneliness. There was plenty of camaraderie among the different strata (officers to officers, grunts to grunts, and a bit among the two), but being out in the middle of a seemingly limitless ocean is enough to plunge anyone's into depression. And that's today, when you can use your satellite phone to reach anyone from anywhere. Then...?

I think loneliness is a theme running through a number of his films. One of my favorites, Fearless was about the weird singularity of surviving an airplane crash and the feelings that can inspire. The main character in the The Truman Show wasn't lonely just because everyone around him was there for his benefit. In truth none of his relationships were real. And the Kelly McGillis character in Fearless was lonely without even realizing it, although at the end she embraced that for tradition and her family.

Next: Various shell miseries
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