Mutiny on the Bounty

Annotation for KRRR! 2023 by Jana Vlasáková

The Tahitians say you either eat life or life eats you. Revolt on the Bounty is about the spectacular clash between man and life. But unlike other adventure films of its time, the biggest battles in this film take place within the man, especially Officer Fletcher Christian, played by the extraordinary Marlon Brando. And just as Christian slowly yet impulsively fights Captain Bligh, Brando slowly yet impulsively fights himself in this film.

The mutiny on the Bounty really happened (there are film adaptations from 1935 and 1984). The purpose of her overseas voyage was to retrieve breadfruit from Tahiti and transport it to Jamaica, where they needed a source of food for the slaves. In doing so, Captain Bligh instituted a system on the ship that bordered on humanity, however it was intended to lead to the successful completion of the mission. Under normal circumstances, the crew might have endured the captain's cruelty and determination, but the problem arose on the return voyage when, after an idyllic stay in Tahiti, a return to the cruel regime gradually led to a mutiny - led by the young officer Christian.

But the mutiny was not just on the Bounty. The film's original director, Carol Reed, was removed by MGM after a series of problems and replaced by Lewis Milestone, who, like the captain, had to face Brand's mutiny. The latter, by virtue of his generous contract, repeatedly interfered with the filming and almost directed it, leading to constant rewrites of the script and making the filming in Tahiti more expensive. Unlike Reed, Milestone simply gave up before the end and the film was eventually finished by George Seaton.

And Brando really dominates the film, neglecting everything around him and forcing us to watch his officer, when we might have preferred to know more about, say, his Tahitian love Maimiti or Captain Bligh. Moreover, the extravagance and dandyism of Brand's character is inconsistent as his habits, worldview and character change throughout the film. It could be said that he is as complicated as Brando himself. Particularly from today's perspective, Brando's mannerisms appear less as a symptom of an extraordinary personality and more as a form of highly contradictory selfishness that must have affected all the people on set around him.

Revolt on the Bounty, however, is not only about Brand, but also about the title ship itself, about Tahiti, and about the inscrutable South Seas. The film is sometimes accused of being slow, but it is precisely because of this that we can enjoy the extraordinary cinematography, the beautiful costumes and masks, the exoticism of the film's locations - and have time to reflect on the powerful story of human individuals in extreme conditions.