The Sand Pebbles

"The Sand Pebbles"
Robert Wise, 1966

The first five minutes of "The Sand Pebbles," which feature a grand orchestral arrangement over a black screen, immediately establish this film as an epic. The film, which portrays a transient engineer, Holman's (Steve McQueen), experiences on a U.S. gunboat in China, exhibits both the possibilities and the limitations of epic films.

For an epic, its characters are surprisingly nuanced and fascinating figures. Holman, who we learn has been transferred seven times over the last nine years, is openly racist towards the Chinese workers on the ship; and yet he must learn to cooperate with them in order to run the ship. It's an interesting character arc, and his relationship with a Chinese mechanic that he mentors is touching.

We also have the captain of the gunboat, a man who is more interested in his pride and, as an unofficial representative of the U.S., demanding that his ship appear strong, rather than on the well-being of his men or the Chinese. By film's end, the formerly-pristine ship has a decrepit, rusted appearance - a symbol of an imperial power's "good" intentions gone rotten.

But being an epic, this film has its share of flaws. There is a love story, between a Chinese woman and one of the engineers, played by Richard Attenborough, that is incessantly trite. When both of them die, one from an illness, the other at the hands of Chinese soldiers, the implications for Holman are so contrived - the Chinese blame him for killing the couple, and the sailors nearly rebel and send Holman to them - and then so quickly dismissed, that it's simply laughable. The film's three-hour running time also feels unnecessary; a shorter film would have helped to make some of the more interesting themes and characters all the more powerful. As it is, the film is merely a good epic.

Rating: 8

First Viewed: 7/3/08, on Blu-ray disc
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