Master and Commander

This two Oscar winner film for best photography and best sound was directed in 2003 by Peter Weir. Two prizes out of ten nominations were fairly won. The cast is led by Russell Crowe as Cpt. Jack “Lucky” Aubrey and his counterpart is played by Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin.

The film is based on the books by Patrick O’Brian and is set on the early 19th Century during Napoleon’s Wars in the oceans which surround South America; the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It was the first film ever shot on location in Galapagos Islands.

Jack Aubrey has clear orders about the Acheron, a French Privateer which he and his crew have to capture, sink or take her a prize. After realize that the Acheron is out of Aubrey’s Frigate class after their first encounter due to the damages suffered, Cpt. Aubrey decides to follow the orders once his vessel, the Surprise, is repaired. That meant an epic journey from the North-East coast of Brazil to the Galapagos Island rounding Cape Horn. The Acheron’s goal is to take the war to those oceans capturing as well British whalers sailing on her way or even pursuing the Surprise. Aubrey plans a stratagem to take the Acheron over while Dr. Maturin and a young midshipman show him an insect they captured which seems to be a stick. The future of England and the rest of the world might depend on the victory of “Lucky” Jack.

This stunning movie is a must-see-film that can make you even smell the guns after firing and taste the salted water of the sea, while enjoying a beautiful soundtrack. It gets you back the excitement from the old epic adventure movies in which the friendship and the duties are not good fellows sometimes.