fred-houpt

I finally got round to watching this film and I really enjoyed it. I brought two mirrors to bear in my mind as I watched. One was the film "Master and Commander", which is not a mutiny story but depicts the era and life on the oceans. The other is a masterpiece of investigative historical research. The book is "The Bounty: the true story of the mutiny on the Bounty" by Caroline Alexander. Examining this story from a wealth of rarely seen documents in Australia and New Zealand (if I recall) she was able to piece together many disjointed parts of the mutiny. Further she provided much background information about what became of Bligh and those involved in the mutiny. I cannot recommend her book enough for those who have a taste for this crazy story.

First of all the film is gorgeous to look at. The scenery fairly drips with colours. The bare chested natives are also nice eye-candy. The uniforms of commissioned officers just about pop out of the screen with such bright shades. I quite enjoyed the manner in which the trial that Bligh, like all commanders or captains who had lost their ship had to endure, was juxtaposed back and forth into the story. (Now that I think about it, this would be a good time to plug all of the Aubrey/Maturin novels of the beloved Patrick O'Brian. From him you will learn as much if not more about naval life than by reading Alexander's terrific book).

A few weaknesses in retrospect come to mind. Sir Joseph Banks was the man who put the entire breadfruit, Tahiti expedition in motion. That it was an adventure to find a way of growing food cheaply and efficiently to feed slaves on Jamaica makes the blood run hot. That they continued back to Tahiti once again to pursue the fruit was surely one of the lowest points in English history. I am surprised that Banks was not inserted more clearly as the initiator of this madness. I would normally say that Mel Gibson gives a strong performance in whatever role he inhabits, given that he is a very talented actor. Notwithstanding a loathing of him as a person outside of the movie industry, I didn't let my revulsion influence watching him act. I found his embodiment of Fletcher Christian a bit wobbly. I say this because instead of emoting something more clearly defined as turmoil when it was appropriate, too often, for my liking, he wore a blank look on his face. Compare this to the master actor, Sir Anthony Hopkins, who is famous for allowing the character he represents to be transparent and fully involved.

Over all I think that it is under rated and if trashed by critics of that time, unjustly so. I saw a comment here from someone who said "forget Master and Commander". Not so. It also is a superb film and adheres very closely to the several O'Brian novels from which the script is crafted. Finally, I am not really a big fan of Vangelis. I mean, the only film that I associate his soundtrack music to is the always entertaining "Blade Runner". I can't imagine that film without the music. Seen these many years later, the 1984 film of the Bounty does not couple well with the electronic sounds that Vangelis was known for. A minor quibble but I'm a musician and am fussy about soundtracks. By comparison there is not one single sound of music that is out of place in "Master and Commander". The Bounty is good movie making.