Watching the Parma fight the ocean in 1933

If you have any romantic notions about sailing, Around the Horn in a Square Rigger will either confirm them or cure them immediately. It’s worth watching if you like history that hasn’t been scrubbed clean by CGI or modern narration. People who need a plot or a structured arc will probably get bored within ten minutes. This isn't a movie that cares if you’re entertained.

It’s just so much wind. The sound of the rigging whistling is honestly louder than my internal monologue by the end of it.

Alan Villiers wasn't trying to make a blockbuster. He was just hanging off the side of a ship with a camera, probably terrified, documenting a way of life that was already dying in 1933. You can see the grime on the decks. It feels real in a way that The Great Redeemer never could, even if they were aiming for different things.

There’s this one shot where the bow dips into a massive swell and the water just erupts over the deck. It’s not framed perfectly. The horizon line is all over the place. It’s perfect.

Notes from the deck

• The sheer height of those masts makes my stomach turn.
• Nobody is acting for the camera, which is a relief.
• The editing feels like it was done in a shed, and I mean that as a compliment.
• I spent most of the runtime wondering how they kept the camera dry.

There’s no heavy-handed music telling you how to feel about the dangerous conditions. You just watch a man climb up a rope ladder while the ship heaves, and you realize how thin the line is between a successful voyage and a tragedy. It’s quiet, mostly.

Sometimes the film scratches or jumps, and it’s actually kind of nice. It reminds you this thing survived eighty years in a tin can somewhere. It’s a bit like watching Among the Counterfeiters—you’re looking at a relic of a world that functioned on totally different rules.

The pacing is entirely dictated by the weather. Sometimes it’s a crawl. Sometimes it’s chaotic. It doesn’t give a damn about your attention span. 🌊

I don't think I’d want to be on that ship for eighty-three days, but I’m glad someone else was.