Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) Poster

Parents Guide

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Certification

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MPAA Rated PG-13 for intense battle sequences, related images, and brief language
Certification

Sex & Nudity

  • A man comes on deck to tend the chickens at the beginning of the movie; he is wearing a long smocklike shirt, and does not appear to be wearing any pants. No nudity shown.
  • There is no sex or nudity in this movie, nor any sexual situations whatsoever. The only female characters are native women of South America who are seen very briefly. The main character at one point offers a toast with his officers "to wives and sweethearts", then jokingly expresses the hope that they never meet.
  • There is a brief scene in which some of the crewmen attempt to hoist some native women who are holding onto the end of a rope aboard the ship, along with their supplies. They are ordered to put them back. The scene is meant to be humorous. One young woman smiles at the captain, and he enjoys a lingering glance back at her. ln this scene there are native South American men who are wearing cloth that only covers their private parts.

Violence & Gore

  • The second naval battle includes cannon fire, as well as substantial close combat including gunfire and sword fights. Many people are killed and shown injured with some blood and minor gore; one man is shown being shot in the forehead. In the aftermath dead crewmen are shown.
  • A man performs a surgical procedure on himself to remove a bullet after being shot accidentally.
  • A ship is fired upon many men are thrown through the air and hit with shrapnel, one man is hit in the chest with shrapnel and a small amount of blood explodes from the exit wound, the operating theatre on the ship is shown with blood all over the floor walls and ceiling screams are heard. A older boy has many splinters of wood sticking out of his arm and blood is seen on his hand. Bloody aftermaths are shown briefly.
  • A character has his arm surgically amputated without anesthetic. Brief and not overly gory, but it is an extremely intense and realistic scene that may be disturbing even for adults.
  • A man has a metal plate put into his head during an operation to relieve a skull fracture, not too graphic but we see the open wound and primitive medical tools.

Profanity

  • 1 use of the F word, 8 uses of 'Damn' (once with God')1 use of 'Shit' 'Bastard' 'Bloody' 'Ass' 'Hell' 'God' and "For God's sake"
  • Among other language, one ridiculously gratuitous F bomb, incongruent and disruptive of the atmosphere of the rest of the film.
  • 1 use of fuck by a minor character; this is a throwback to the source novels, in which the author deliberately used the word exactly once in each book.
  • 1 use of bast***
  • 8 uses of da** (1 G*dd*mn)

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

  • The officers drink wine with every meal and get a little tipsy. This includes a boy who would in modern times be underage.
  • When they go to land for awhile, they make liquor out of cactus. There are no scenes of drunken violence.
  • Maturin smokes a cigar once (and offers one to Aubrey who declines the offer), while miscellaneous characters smoke (mostly pipes).

Frightening & Intense Scenes

  • There is a burial at sea, with several bodies being wrapped and then dropped overboard.
  • A crewman is whipped harshly as punishment for insubordination.
  • Several scenes include crewmen mistreating an officer due to the ancient seafarers' superstition that bad events during a voyage are the result of a "Jonah" on board, i.e. someone whose supposed offenses against God have incurred divine wrath, despite a lack of evidence of actual misconduct.
  • The film opens with the ship in a dense fog and one of the younger officers suspects an enemy ship is nearby. Another officer his age whom he consults agrees and calls the ship to general quarters. As it turns out, this is a prudent decision as the ship is soon fired upon, but the crew is ready for battle.
  • A man drowns at sea despite the efforts of the crew to save him.
  • The battle scenes are all intense.
  • An amputation scene is intense - not especially gory, but can be extremely disturbing in its realism, even for adults.
  • A character commits suicide by drowning, with a friend of his witnessing the act.
  • Storm scenes with the ship's mast breaking and a man being lost overboard are very intense, and the sounds of the storm are very realistic.

Spoilers

The Parents Guide items below may give away important plot points.

Violence & Gore

  • The end battle has several people shot, stabbed and punched, though it is not especially bloody. Multiple characters who had speaking parts earlier in the movie are deceased and shown being sewn into bags before being dumped into the sea.

See also

Taglines | Plot Summary | Synopsis | Plot Keywords


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