My Review of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Arrrrr.... a pirate's life for me!

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has excited Singaporeans for Chow Yun Fat's line, "Welcome to Singapore," not just because it's a wonderful mention of our home, not just because it's the second mention of Singapore in the trilogy (See: "Obviously you've never been to Singapore" in the first movie), but because it's uttered by Chow Yun Fat, quite simply the coolest actor in East Asia (and probably the world), and looking suitably badass in this movie.

What delighted me, however, was the historical and geographic mashup created by the conflation of different eras in Singapore's history and Southeast Asian geography. There is a lot of proof that Singapore was indeed a pirate haven in the 16th and 17th centuries, as a central and open port and part of the Johor Sultanate, with trade from the Portuguese and Dutch passing through regularly (it remains a pirate haven to this day- albeit a rather different kind of piracy). The depiction of Singapore is more accurate than you'd assume from a movie like this.

Yet from the overhead shots and the ethnic composition of the people, as well as the climate (implied from the clothing and the fact that Sao Feng used steam to heat his room), it looks like the location of the pirate haven wasn't Singapore. Rather than a flat country, an open port, hot and humid weather and lots of Orang Laut running around, we saw a mountainous country in a temperate zone with lots of Chinese running around. That suggests that 'Singapore' in the movie is somewhere much further north: either Taiwan, Vietnam or Hong Kong. All three had pirate havens (indeed, the first Chinese settlements in Taiwan were pirate settlements). Most likely, however, is that it would be Pattani in Southern Thailand. In the 16th century it was ruled by the great pirate chief Ling Dao Qian, who led a band of some 2000 men and who, as legend has it, married the daughter of a Malay chief and became a ruler himself.

The female Pirate Lord Mistress Ching also has her historical counterpart, although she dates from the beginning of the 19th century- Mdm. Cheng Yisao, who at the height of her power commanded 70,000 men and 400 ships, and who struck fear into the heart of the Qing Imperial Navy. The Qing even had to beg for help from the East India Company to help protect them from her raids, to no avail.

Meanwhile, the opening scene of the movie, where a "State of Emergency" is declared and certain constitutional freedoms are suspended (including habeas corpus, trial by jury, the right to assembly and protest, and the right to an advocate), sounds very familiar... just two or three hundred years too early. But given the wording the filmmakers chose to use, and the fact that it was voiced by a representative of the British Crown, as a measure to repress a dangerous, underground and militant enemy with socialist beliefs, to protect British commercial interests, could they have been nodding at the Malayan Emergency?

I'm giving a lecture on the Malayan Emergency on Monday 28th May at Hertford College... feel free to attend if you wish to know more!

But here's what bothered me about the ending of the movie. This is of course a spoiler, so stop reading here if you haven't seen the movie. Otherwise, read on after the jump.

[Spoiler starts here]

Given that

a) Will Turner is now Captain of the Flying Dutchman, and is now immortal;
b) Elizabeth Swann Turner has no family to speak of since her parents are dead;
c) She also has no ship, no job, and no prospects;
d) If she dies at sea, she gets to choose to join the crew of the Flying Dutchman for all eternity and stay on board the ship with her husband;
e) If she doesn't, she will grow old and die while he will remain young forever.

Isn't the logical thing to do just to swim out to sea and kill herself? Death no longer has any fear for her.

The final scene after the credits gives this even more credence, because if Will can still father children in his new state, it implies that the state that he and his crew are in isn't one of death, but one of continued life. She could join him on board the ship and they could raise a family, and their children wouldn't be bound by the constraints of their condition, and they'd be (in the words of Rick Astley) together forever and never to part. So it's really a win-win all around.