Unlike Gladiator, Russel Crowe’s earlier historical action movie, the drama in Master and Commander” is quite dull. I was so bored after the first hour that I needed to rest a day before I could watch the second hour. Why did I continue at all? Well, Britain became the world’s greatest power in the 18th century by virtue of its navy. As a piece of historical sociology, the film has some splendid moments depicting the social organization of an British warship. Because of the enthusiam of the ship’s doctor for collecting species on the Galapagos Islands, we also get a sense of how important natural history was to British science from the 15th to the 19th century.  Unfortunately, the film’s educational ambitions are frequently thrown over board.

In one scene, for example, while the ship is anchoring close to land to acquire new supplies, the captain (Russel Crowe) lays eyes on a beautiful young girl. For a moment, we are led to believe that the captain will live out his manhood. No, guessed wrong. The captain apparently remembers that he must set a good example. Before watching this movie, I thought most sailors have girlfriends or at least prostiutes in every habor. But here not even the most wicket sailor seems to look for female companionship, although every other conceivable good is traded with South American Indians. Back on the ship some beautiful platonic friendships are struck between men (one of them is between two young teenagers who are given the task to play adults because they they part of the officer caste). But never do we hear any of the sailors talk about a fantasy girl back home.  And never mistakes any of the men another sailor for his fantansy girl or experiences genuine attraction to the flesh sleeping only a few inches away. In Midnight Express, a fantastic movie made about Turkish prison life made twenty years ago, we get a very different impression of what happens when a large number of men live together for months or years in the same confined space.  Although Master and Commander does not add up to complete historical picture of what life was like on these ships, the film made at least an attempt to give us some insight into what kind of social organization made it possible to undertake these adventures to the far sides of the world.