Watching this 3 hrs+ movie is like living a captivating adventure through an indispensable part of maritime history.
This Dava Sobel's story is not of extreme historic accuracy but remains a delight anyway, the film showing such intense moments passing from hope to despair, belief to desolation but ending with victory and relief.
Life at sea and Captain's almighty authority on Royal Navy ships in those eras are remarkably pictured, as well as rivalry between people of social conditions so different but altogether guided by unshakeable faith and infallible tenacity. A lesson in life.
Actors Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon play the main characters with sobriety but intensity, never exagerating the roles but subtly deepening them by a rather slow rhythm of action and an vulnerable but determined attitude to adversity.

For those interested in navigation matters and scientific discoveries in general, a fascinating voyage at sea through time, science, history and human preoccupation.