Secret Sharer

A lovely story set in a gorgeous setting. This film was recommended by a friend and despite the film critics reviews did not disappoint. From someone who has not read the original book the story highlighted the value of human kindness, was stunning to watch in HDR with vivid colours of the natural landscape and had actors who fully committed to portraying their characters stories.

The film also has excellent music masterfully highlighting the emotions of every scene and sharing traditional Polish, Cuban and Chinese styles of music. Using a real ship meant that all the scenes and operation of the vessel were realistic and as a viewer I felt immersed in a long seas' voyage.

This is a great film to watch with my friends and family so I would highly recommend watching it.

I felt compelled to write something just to remove the idiotic 1 star troll "review" displayed as the header by an individual that had not even watched the movie. I found the film very sweet and humble and thoroughly enjoyed it. The basic premise of the film was only "inspired" by Conrads short story, it makes no claims to be anything more indepth. Just a nice solid entertaining flick on its own.

I have not seen what I assume is a television adaption and would strongly recommend against anyone bothering with it as a sacrilege. This is Conrad's first and best work as it sets the narrative style ('freezing diachronic tension into a synchronic pattern') and existential dilemma (ontological insecurity) - our narrator repeatedly states that he has no self-knowledge - explored in his subsequent work. There are no females in the story. The ship has not been abandoned by its crew. The 'secret sharer' - Leggatt - is Capt. Lingard's 'doppelganger;. The question is the young captain's crisis in taking the first action of his command - an act that could result in shipwreck and the loss of his crew when he encounters Leggatt - an actual murderer - and hides him in his L-shaped cabin (divergent choice). Academics argue Conrad's intention: semiologists (from Jung) would have archetypes - materialists (from Reich) would have our (non-retrospective first person narrator) in a fugue state. Among the latter are those who would argue that Leggatt is entirely imaginary - which I dismiss as the Captain of Leggatt's vessel comes aboard in search of his fugitive first mate. Anyone interested in this fascinating and complex work should read Bruce Harkin's 'The Secret Sharer: Economical Personal Narrative' in 'Conrad's Secret Sharer and the Critics' - 1962; John P. Conger's 'Jung & Reich: the body of Shadow', and R.D. Laing's 'The Divided Self'. Let us hope that an adaptation will eventually come into competent hands.