Master and Commander’s intimate study of male friendship makes the film a touchstone of wholesome masculinity. Memes abound attesting to audiences’ yearning for a life of honest work and male companionship. Napoleon, escaped from Elba, pursues his enemies across Europe like a vengeful phoenix. If he can corner the British and Prussians before their Russian and Austrian allies arrive, his genius will lead the French armies to triumph at Waterloo. The fate of Europe hinges on their desperate mission. Master and Commander Books #20 Blue at the Mizzen (1999) But it is not necessarily the masculine, nautical adventures that appeal to men so much as the film’s healthy and loving male relationships. The HMS Surprise offers an alternative picture of male camaraderie. On board Surprise, the masculine environment is a supportive one. It allows men to feel their differences while still inspiring and caring for each other. From gentle, scientific sorts to burly able seamen, all take pride in their community on board their “little wooden world.”

The performances of the protagonists are gentle, subtle and lifelike. Crowe gives a rugged and charismatic performance as the tradition-loving Aubrey. Bettany as the charmingly lubberly Maturin is the perfect complement to Aubrey, even as he differs from his book counterpart, his role as an intelligence agent being conspicuously absent from the script. The sea itself already had a nacreous light that belonged more to the day than the darkness, and this light was reflected in the great convexities of the topsails, giving them the lustre of grey pearls.” This admiration of the Surprise’s masculine community, where different kinds of men are celebrated, serves as a positive counter model to the angst and toxicity of the manosphere. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the French intelligence network in the New World and the attention of two privateers soon becomes menacing. Other pleasures involve the exciting scenes of naval action that suddenly pop up, from inconclusive minor skirmishes between pairs of ships to major battles involving multiple ships and shore batteries (for in the year 1800 when the novel takes place England is at war with Spain and France), as well as the occasional brief, vivid, and lyrical descriptions of the world viewed with relish from a ship at sea:So why was this marvel of modern cinema only a modest box office success? And why have there been no sequels, in an age of universes and franchises based on source material of infinitely less literary weight than O’Brian’s, never mind a whole Ridley Scott movie devoted to “ that raggedy arse Napoleon”? (Which I can’t wait to see.)

It is this promise that keeps men returning, two decades later, to Master and Commander. Much like Stephen’s flightless bird, it’s not going anywhere. — The Conversation via Reuters Connect Is Aubrey’s humiliation and the threatened ruin of his career a deliberate plot? Master and Commander Books #12: The Letter of Marque (1988) Online, 20 years after the film’s release, many men are finding comfort and inspiration in this contrasting picture of what masculinity can look like. Napoleon is master of Europe. Only the British fleet stands before him. Oceans are now battlefields. And a moderate box office success from 2003 has become an unlikely streaming favorite, a poster child for the kind of movies Hollywood doesn’t make anymore, and a beacon of positive masculinity.”Master and Commander is an action movie with a brain. Its thrills are never mindless. Weir’s recreation of life in the close confines of a warship in 1805 is meticulous, fascinating and sometimes, rightly, nausea-inducing. Crowe and Bettany’s interpretation of a friendship between two men matches such artistry precisely. As Gabriella Paiella said for GQ earlier this year, much of the film’s lasting appeal springs from that portrayal of male closeness. Aubrey himself is won over and indeed strongly attracted to this woman who will not speak of her past. But only Aubrey’s friend, Dr. Stephen Maturin, can fathom Harvill’s secrets: her crime, her personality, and a clue identifying a highly-placed English spy in the pay of Napoleon’s intelligence service. Master and Commander Books #16: The Wine-Dark Sea (1993) With a Dutch man-of-war to windward, the undermanned, outgunned Leopardsails for her life into the freezing waters of the Antarctic, where, in mountain seas, the Dutchman closes. Master and Commander Books #6: The Fortune of War (1979)