Movies at sea enhance the cruise

Editor’s Note: This is the 21st in a series of stories researched during Don and Nancy Harrison’s 50th Wedding Anniversary cruise from Sydney, Australia, to San Diego.  Previous installments of the series, which runs every Thursday, may be found by tapping the number of the installment:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

By Donald H. Harrison

AT SEA, Aboard MS Maasdam – While visiting three ports in Australia and eight in New Zealand, our cruise was enriched by the Holland America Line staff’s choice of movies to add to our knowledge about both countries and the former British Empire.

There were three ways that passengers could watch a movie aboard Maasdam.  The daily selection would be shown three times during the day in the Wajang Theater.  If you missed a showing, the same movie would be shown the next day on your in-cabin, closed-circuit television.  And, if for some reason, you still didn’t have a chance to view it, you could borrow a DVD from the ship’s extensive collection. Each cabin also had a DVD player.

Most of the time, I chose to catch a 9:30 p.m. showing of the movie in the theater.  I had a favorite seat in the back row.  Sometimes Nancy joined me; other times, she preferred to watch the live show in the Showroom of the Sea.

The two movies bearing on Australia included The Dressmaker and The Cup. The four films dealing with New Zealand were The Love Birds; Whale Rider; Hunt for the Wilderpeople; and Born to Dance.  British Commonwealth locales were featured in Victoria and Abdul as well as in Goodbye Christopher Robin.

Following is a  brief synopsis of eight films I watched off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand.

The Dressmaker (2015) – Kate Winslet stars in this comedy about a once ostracized girl, who was unfairly blamed for the death of a town boy.  Now a glamorous dress maker, she creates high fashion dresses for the women of this dusty Australian Outback town, while living with her eccentric—some might say crazy—mother.  Along the way, she finds out who really was responsible for the town boy’s long-ago death.

The Cup (2011) – Shortly before the Melbourne Cup was to be raced, a favored jockey was killed in another horse race – the same way his father had died.  The jockey’s younger brother, portrayed by Stephen Curry, decides to substitute as the jockey in the Melbourne Cup, but he loses several races leading up to the much-awaited contest.  However, he dedicates his Melbourne Cup effort to his late brother, and runs the race of his life.  The movie is based on the 2002 Melbourne Cup victory by jockey Damien Oliver aboard Media Puzzle.

Love Birds (2011) – Shot on scene in New Zealand, this romantic comedy has a recently jilted boyfriend (Rhys Darby) adopt an injured duck, with whom he becomes inseparable.  This leads him to an encounter with a lady veterinarian, and soon sparks fly. Then the plot follows the traditional triad of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl reconcile.

Whale Rider (2002) – Of all the films that I watched aboard Maasdam, I liked this one the best because it introduced me to many Maori beliefs and folk customs. Paikea Apirana (portrayed by Academy Award-nominated Keisha Castle-Hughes, then 13) is descended from the chief, and could outperform all the boys in traditional warrior tasks.  But she is a girl, and, according to custom, the chief must be a boy.  Brave and daring, Pai duplicates the feat of the tribe’s legendary forebearer, who led his people from Hawaiki to New Zealand by riding through the ocean on the back of a whale.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) – This is the story of a runaway boy (Julian Dennison) who is taken in by a kindly backwoods woman (Rima Te Wiata), who also has an ex-con (San Neil)  working for her.  When she dies, the ex-con takes off, the boy follows, and eventually they bond—but not before there is a national manhunt for them in what authorities falsely suspect was a kidnaping.

Born To Dance (2015) – Another exploration of traditional Maori culture.  A young man (Tia Maipi) wants to compete in dances, but his father (Stan Walker) wants the boy to follow him into he New Zealand army.  To keep his father happy, he trains for the Army at 4 a.m.; to keep his boss happy, he reports to work at 6 a.m.; and to keep his dance crew happy, he trains with them, after work, to compete in a national hip hop competition.  Something has got to give, and the young man’s situation is not helped by competitors who will stop at nothing to repeat as national title winners.

Victoria and Abdul (2017) – Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) finds her Muslim servant from India, Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal) a relief from the tiresome ceremonies and hidebound traditions of the Palace.  She coms to look upon Abdul as a son, who has many an exciting tale to tell – much to the consternation of her son, the Prince, and the British Prime Minister.  The aging Victoria is the queen, so they can’t send him away without her consent, so they plot ways to end the friendship.

Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) – A.A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) wrote the best-selling book, Winnie the Pooh, about a young boy, Christopher Robin (Will Tilston) and his imaginary life with his stuffed animal friends in the woods.  The problem is that the media learns that there is a real Christopher Robin, and they demand more and more time and photos of him.  Milne acquiesces, not realizing that Christopher feels exploited, and resents his father for seemingly caring about him only when promoting his books.  The movie follows their troubled relationship to Robin’s adulthood.

Can you imagine what movies Holland America might be tempted to show if it were cruising in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, with ports of call in Eilat, Ashdod, and Haifa?

For Eilat, so close to Egypt, what could be better than the old Cecil B. DeMille classic The Ten Commandments (1956), starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner?

For Ashdod, the gateway to Israel’s capital of Jerusalem, I would pick A Woman Called Golda (1982) starring Ingrid Bergman.

As for Haifa, I would choose Exodus (1960) starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.

I wonder what movies others would choose!

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com