nominated for a slew of technical awards by the Motion Picture Academy of 2003,

today's film was robbed of many of its much-deserved accolades, partly by the Lord of the Rings,

and partly by woeful ignorance. Unfortunately, it has slipped now into relative obscurity.

Directed by Peter Weir, the film is set almost entirely aboard the HMS surprise,

following Russell Croos Captain Aubrey and Paul Bettany's Dr. Mathurin, as they are set upon

by a French privateer at the height of the Napoleonic Wars.

The film is an extraordinarily faithful depiction of naval life in the 19th century and the

epic scope explores not only the harrowing action of seafaring

canonades but the British class system, early natural philosophy, the

isolation of life on the ship, and the natural tension of close quarters, naval strategy, the pressure of

command and modern tactics of war.

The film opens, escalates, and climaxes with some of the most dynamic depictions of naval warfare ever captured.

And it's one of our favorites in the genre.

Quicks the word and sharps the action.

Today on friendly fire, Master and Commander, the Farce. the far side of the fire

side of the world. What is it good for?

Welcome to Friendly Fire, a podcast where we review war movies, and yet you're here listening to it.

I'm one of your hosts Ben Harrison.

That's your intro?

And yet you're here listening to it?

I just thought that I would like rewrite my intro every week,

given that I haven't found one that I like yet.

...