The Mutinous Mind

The small band of mutinous soldiers who seized the Glorietta Complex in Manila yesterday got me thinking again about the psychological impulse behind the act of mutiny.

I must confess to a certain fascination with this subject of mutiny: What is it that prompts someone to garner enough courage mixed with recklessness to take on the authority of an entire military and social system of which he or she is part of? What is it that triggers and tips of the mental balance of a mutineer to commit such a monumental act of defiance?

There is a point where the mutineer feels that enough is enough and he decides to cross over, never to return. The mutineer is often doomed from the start as he takes on a battle he cannot possibly win. There's something deeply primal about such an act: It is amok with a touch of finesse.

Mutinies have occurred frequently throughout history but the most famous and romanticized one of all is the one that happened on board the English ship, The Bounty in 1789. The Bounty was commanded by a Lieutenant William Bligh who was sent to Tahiti to collect breadfruit plants and to ship them to Jamaica where they will be planted as staple food for the slaves. My interest about this mutiny started more than fifteen years ago after I watched Roger Donaldson's 1984 film version of it: The Bounty. I subsequently read everything I could on the subject.

A bit of digression first. The movie, The Bounty is a forgotten gem; you can hardly find it in VCD or DVD stores today, even though it has been shown more than once on Malaysian TV (the copy I have is a VHS recording which I still keep until today). It has so many Oscar winners on its cast: imagine Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh and a young Mel Gibson as ship officer Fletcher Christian who ultimately led the mutiny on the ship. There are also Best Actor winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson as members of the Bounty's crew. Even the great Lawrence Olivier and Edward Fox had minor roles in the movie.

While there have been many screen versions of this famous mutiny before (five in total, one starring Marlon Brando as a very flamboyant Fletcher Christian), this 1984 production is the most historically accurate one and captures the psychological tension between William Bligh (Hopkins) and Fletcher Christian (Gibson) leading to the mutiny very well. This is also helped by a powerful electronic score by Vangelis. OK, end of digression.

Sailors working on board British ships during the 18th century when Britannia ruled the waves, were subjected to very harsh working and living conditions. To command a ship across vast stormy seas with the threat of hunger, thirst and scurvy lurking around the corner requires strict discipline. Captains run their ships with an iron fist: Small offences were often punished with lashing and the punishment for mutiny was death by hanging.

Imagine the sailors of the Bounty, after months of being cooped up on a ship landing on the golden palm-fringed shores of Tahiti, to be greeted by bare-breasted island beauties who were willing to offer sexual favours in return for pieces of iron nails from the ship. The Tahiti then is the Holy Grail sought by many backpackers today - an island completely cut off from civilisation - a paradise of sun, sky, sea with ultra-friendly native women.

After the breadfruit plants had been collected, the captain, William Bligh had a tough time gathering all his crew again to resume his voyage via the perilious Cape Horn to the Caribbean. Yanked away from their lovers and the sensual lives they led on Tahiti, the sailors grew extremely restless and resent being subjected to the brutal and regimented life within the dingy confines of the ship. Mutiny became an inevitability.

Fletcher Christian (portrayed poignantly by Mel Gibson in the climatic sequence from the movie), unable to stand the loneliness and the harsh discipline on board the ship anymore seized command of the Bounty and set his friend Bligh - who had trusted him all this while - adrift on a small open boat together with 18 crew and officials still loyal to the captain. Fletcher Christian sailed back to Tahiti leaving Bligh drifting at sea off the cannibal infested island of Tonga with little food and water.

What followed then became the stuff of legends. Fletcher Christian led the gang of mutineers back to Tahiti to be reunited with their women. But knowing that the British ships would be hunting for them, they decided to sail on together with their women and finally settled down on a little known island called Pitcairn Island, cutting all ties with their families and friends back in England forever. Their descendants are still living there today.

William Bligh, with hardly any navigational aids was able to steer his boat 3,600 miles to the Portuguese port of Cupang in Timor after sailing on his boat for seven weeks, his crew barely surviving thirst, hunger and dehydration. He was exonerated by the Navy for his conduct in the whole affair and was even commended for his masterful seamanship during the months of being adrift on the boat. He managed to publish his log detailing his experiences on the voyage which became the equivalent of our best-seller during his time.

The story of Fletcher Christian and William Bligh is in a way is the archetypal battle between the heart and the head. Fletcher Christian, romantic and rebellious, chose to pursue Rosseau's ideal of the Noble Savage whilst William Bligh epitomizes level-headedness, reason, responsibility and social obligation.

These are two opposing strains of impulses that are constantly lurking in the depths of our psyche. It is something we have to grapple with at different points in our lives. And everyday, I go to work with the dialogue of mutiny between Fletcher Christian and William Bligh still being played over and over again in my mind.