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Quotes

Capt. Jack Aubrey: England is under threat of invasion, and though we be on the far side of the world, this ship is our home. This ship *is* England.

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Trivia

The book, from which the film is based, was actually set during the "War of 1812" between Britain and America, and in the book the Acheron is an American made vessel used by America. By contrast, in the film the Acheron is an American made ship used by the French, who are the nemesis of Britain in this film. See more...

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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) - 50 mistakes

Directed by Peter Weir, starring James D'Arcy, Paul Bettany, Russell Crowe (add more)

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, War

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Trivia
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Factual error: At the end of the film, Aubrey sends the de-masted prize Acheron to Valparaiso, Chile, for repairs. Valparaiso is 3,000 miles from the Galapagos Islands, and, in 1805, was a tiny village without appropriate port facilities to dock or repair anything as large as a frigate. Valparaiso did not become a major port until after Chilean Independence from Spain (1810). Guayaquil (in modern Ecuador) would have been a more appropriate choice, being about 750 miles from the Galapagos, and being a major port in 1805. The choice between the two ports was moot, anyway, since both municipalities were Spanish territory in 1805, and thus were allied with the French, and hostile to the British.

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Factual error: Near the end of the film when the crew are playing cricket on the island the camera pans out to show the batsman in front of three stumps. However cricket didn't start to be played with three stumps until at least 50 years after the film is set. At the time of the movie time people only played with two.

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Revealing: The Acheron fires many devastating blows on the Surprise and the effect is visible in close-ups and a wide shot. However, after Mr. Mowett yells, "Relieving-tackles on the tiller! You men collect the wounded!" there is another wide shot of the Acheron in the foreground and Surprise in the distance. In this shot Surprise has NO damage whatsoever!

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Factual error: In the brief shot of the Surprise underway after entering the Pacific, seen from dead astern and from above, the ship is leaving a respectable wake but is not heeling with the wind at all and the sails are hanging slack as though completely becalmed.

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Factual error: After Stephen Maturin comes back with a small portion of findings from the Galapagos Islands, he presents a stick insect to Captain Aubrey, but stick insects (Phasmids) don't exist in the Galapagos Islands.

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Continuity: As Killick trims the wax on the candle, in the close-up his hand is wet. However, in the next wide shot as he says, "He's been at it again..." his hand is dry.

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Audio problem: After releasing the whaler prisoners aboard Acheron, Mr. Hogg shouts, "Now do your worst!" though his mouth clearly does not say that.

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Continuity: There are two tight close-ups of the words "hold fast," which are tattooed on Joe Plaice's fingers; When "Engaged enemy frigate at six bells," is said as Joe speaks, and as Stephen performs the brain surgery on Joe. The letters noticeably differ in the two shots, particularly the l, d, f, and t.

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Revealing: After a close-up of the drawing of one-armed Lord Nelson, Killick opens the lid of the steaming food for Jack in a close-up, just before Killick says, "Oh, here we go again. Scrape, scrape, screech, screech." Later, after Pullings takes command of Acheron, Jack tunes up his violin and Killick says, "Here we go again," in another close-up of the steaming food for Jack. Every detail of the food shown in both close-ups is exactly the same - obviously shot at the same time.

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Continuity: The position of the needle and thread lying on Peter's body differ in the wide shot and following close-up.

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Continuity: When Stephen removes the bullet, the rope's knot on the pillow, to the right of Stephen's head, appears, disappears and reappears.

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Audio problem: While doing repairs on Surprise, Jack says, "Repair won't do here. I need those replaced," but his lips don't move when his voice says, "..replaced." Then as he says, "Ask Mr. Lamb what he has in stock," his mouth actually says something else.

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Audio problem: The last scene, when the captain and the doctor are playing music, the captain starts out with playing the violin with his fingers. Then the doctor is playing light tones with the bow on his cello. But the sound is not a cello, but rather another violin. Suddenly, they switch, and the doctor is using his fingers, playing deep tones on the cello, and the captain is now playing with a bow. Finally, the first part of the music piece come back, and you hear both a violin (or some other small string instrument) played with fingers, and another violin played with a bow.

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Continuity: After Killick sets down the platter of the 'Galapagos Islands', Jack says, "Gentlemen, I give you our destination." In the following close-up of the platter, the stack of china is to the left of the candelabra, yet, in the next shot, as Killick hands the spoon to Jack, the candelabra is farther back and the stack of china is towards the right.

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Continuity: After Will's death, Joe looks through Will's belongings. As the shot faces Joe he unrolls the parchment and in the next close-up of the parchment, not only do the edges of it differ from the previous and following shots, the way he holds it differs as well.

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Audio problem: Jack tells Pullings that he will take the next watch. Pullings says, "Aye, sir. Mr. Mowett, Mr. Allen, calmly now. You know his orders," however he does not say the latter half of that sentence, he says something else.

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Continuity: When Jack and Stephen play their musical instruments, the cloth under Jack's chin changes position in the close-up.

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Continuity: In the last shot we see the Surprise make a sharp 90 degrees turn to follow l'Acheron to Valparaiso. It seems that the wind changes 90 degrees in the same instant, because it is not necessary to trim the sails, and the pennant keeps flying in the same direction relative to the ship.

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Revealing: After the Captain cuts loose the man who fell overboard in the storm, there is a scene where the men sit around the big table and sing a song. During the song, the camera pans in a sweeping shot around the table. Watch closely as it comes around to the near side of the table, and you'll see the camera's view quickly jolt, as if it lightly smacked against something by accident during the filming.

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Factual error: In the dinner scene, the captain points and asks the doctor which "weevil". Those are actually mealworm larvae (sold as reptile food in most pet stores in the US) and would never have been in a ship's food. Also, they show the doctor catching common green iguanas, which are not native to the Galapagos Islands. Neither is the species of tortoise pictured in the movie.

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