Factual errors abound in this sea tale about which the English should know better.
A southbound ship "canting to the right" in a westerly? That is the windward side (the ship would "cant" to the lee). This exemplifies the lack of detail attended-to by the producers and director. Narrowly escaping a lee shore in the nick of time? Not with the visuals with which we were provided. The "false keel" coming away from the ship?
Navigation so poor that the ship is so far south that it entirely evades the notoriously dangerous South American cape? A singer asking for and receiving a musical cue of a fifth instead of a tonic?
There is plenty more in this "romantic" bildungsroman to yank the nautically and musically astute out of their suspension of disbelief.
Moreover, the entire second episode or "nite" (out of three) is a goofy soap opera. The last five minutes make me wish that they had all found their end on the lee shore ice. Yecchhh! I wonder how closely it followed the Golding novel upon which it is supposedly based? C.S. Forrester and Patrick O'Brian are U.K. writers who DID get the nauticals right to the nth detail.
However, it wasn't a total loss. Victoria Hamilton's tears are just as effective here as they were in Ian Holm's King Lear in which she was a formidable and heart-rending Cordelia. Hers is one of the strongest characterisations in this film. Jared Harris was a splendid Captain Anderson, and Benedict Cumberbatch acquitted himself well in the role of the "main character."
Half-heartedly recommended.
A southbound ship "canting to the right" in a westerly? That is the windward side (the ship would "cant" to the lee). This exemplifies the lack of detail attended-to by the producers and director. Narrowly escaping a lee shore in the nick of time? Not with the visuals with which we were provided. The "false keel" coming away from the ship?
Navigation so poor that the ship is so far south that it entirely evades the notoriously dangerous South American cape? A singer asking for and receiving a musical cue of a fifth instead of a tonic?
There is plenty more in this "romantic" bildungsroman to yank the nautically and musically astute out of their suspension of disbelief.
Moreover, the entire second episode or "nite" (out of three) is a goofy soap opera. The last five minutes make me wish that they had all found their end on the lee shore ice. Yecchhh! I wonder how closely it followed the Golding novel upon which it is supposedly based? C.S. Forrester and Patrick O'Brian are U.K. writers who DID get the nauticals right to the nth detail.
However, it wasn't a total loss. Victoria Hamilton's tears are just as effective here as they were in Ian Holm's King Lear in which she was a formidable and heart-rending Cordelia. Hers is one of the strongest characterisations in this film. Jared Harris was a splendid Captain Anderson, and Benedict Cumberbatch acquitted himself well in the role of the "main character."
Half-heartedly recommended.