I first saw The Bounty many years ago late at night while trying to find something decent on television and I couldn't have asked for a better result, rarely has channel hopping proved so prosperous. Years later, when I got hold of the video, the film had lost none of its' wonder. I wasn't lucky enough to catch it on a cinema screen and often wonder how it would compare, but it remains terribly powerful on the small screen - an achievement few movies can lay claim to.
The Bounty set sail in 1788 to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies as a cheap source of food for slaves but after a paradisiacal spell on the island (with an abundant sexual promiscuity from the Tahitian women), the sailors mutinied shortly after leaving the island. Due to reasons that become clear throughout the course of the film, the episode has remained one of the most documented and talked about in maritime history and the movie does well to live up to legend.
Most time is spent examining the relationship between Lieutenant William Bligh (Anthony Hopkins) and Masters Mate Fletcher Christian (Mel Gibson) who had been friends for many years before setting sail, but whose friendship becomes tested after a clash of interests while harboured in Tahiti. It is this relationship that drives the movie onwards. In many accounts William Bligh has been painted as a bad tempered megalomaniac and Fletcher Christian as a courageous man driven to the edge, however the writers, Richard Hough and Robert Bolt, are careful to keep this relationship so well balanced that your sympathies sway between both points of view for the duration of the movie. Though the crux of the film lies in this association, all too brief moments explain the feelings of the rest of the crew and I would have liked to see more made of the thoughts of the films largest cast, the Tahitians.
With actors ranging from Dexter Fletcher to Laurence Olivier, and Daniel Day-Lewis to Liam Neeson the casting (as in many British movies) is second to none. Even the unknown Tahitian actors, such as Wi Kuki Kaa as King Tynah, carry off their roles with well-observed sensitivity and an understanding of the structure of the story.
Roger Donaldson directs with aplomb and brilliantly captures the claustrophobia of the ship and the situation while maintaining the expanse of the ocean and the Tahitian landscape. Though the film rightly focuses on the story of the mutiny itself, and the events leading to it, some of the most interesting parts of the true story have been sorely missed or skated over. I wont go into these events here (to save giving the story away), but if you liked the film it's worth reading much of the literature that has been written about The Bounty to get the complete and fascinating account.
The Bounty set sail in 1788 to transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies as a cheap source of food for slaves but after a paradisiacal spell on the island (with an abundant sexual promiscuity from the Tahitian women), the sailors mutinied shortly after leaving the island. Due to reasons that become clear throughout the course of the film, the episode has remained one of the most documented and talked about in maritime history and the movie does well to live up to legend.
Most time is spent examining the relationship between Lieutenant William Bligh (Anthony Hopkins) and Masters Mate Fletcher Christian (Mel Gibson) who had been friends for many years before setting sail, but whose friendship becomes tested after a clash of interests while harboured in Tahiti. It is this relationship that drives the movie onwards. In many accounts William Bligh has been painted as a bad tempered megalomaniac and Fletcher Christian as a courageous man driven to the edge, however the writers, Richard Hough and Robert Bolt, are careful to keep this relationship so well balanced that your sympathies sway between both points of view for the duration of the movie. Though the crux of the film lies in this association, all too brief moments explain the feelings of the rest of the crew and I would have liked to see more made of the thoughts of the films largest cast, the Tahitians.
With actors ranging from Dexter Fletcher to Laurence Olivier, and Daniel Day-Lewis to Liam Neeson the casting (as in many British movies) is second to none. Even the unknown Tahitian actors, such as Wi Kuki Kaa as King Tynah, carry off their roles with well-observed sensitivity and an understanding of the structure of the story.
Roger Donaldson directs with aplomb and brilliantly captures the claustrophobia of the ship and the situation while maintaining the expanse of the ocean and the Tahitian landscape. Though the film rightly focuses on the story of the mutiny itself, and the events leading to it, some of the most interesting parts of the true story have been sorely missed or skated over. I wont go into these events here (to save giving the story away), but if you liked the film it's worth reading much of the literature that has been written about The Bounty to get the complete and fascinating account.