An American Classic

An American Classic The African Queen is a brilliant movie, starring Katherine Hepburn as Rose Sayer and Humphrey Bogart as Charlie Ullnet. Set against the backdrop of World War I, a touching love story quietly blossoms against the odds of circumstance and mismatched personalities. Facing a script revolving almost entirely around only two people, director John Huston adeptly develops a third viable character by filming the majority of the movie on location in Africa: nature. Rosie and Charlie must contend with nature throughout the film. As Rosie learns to love the parts of Charlie she cannot control or change, so she learns when to fight nature and when to give into it. The underlying theme of The African Queen is a lesson in the futility of fighting nature. Rosie has spent ten years in Africa doing missionary work with her brother; yet, after all this time, the movie opens during a church service where the native villagers appear to be as uncomprehending as to what is going on as if it were the Sayers’ first day there. This is the first evidence of Rosie’s inability to accept she cannot change nature. In this example, she cannot change the nature of the African culture. Charlie has, at this point, no desire to change anything. He patiently waits for the services to end and is amused at his inadvertently disrupting the services by offhandedly tossing his unfinished cigar to the ground, causing the villagers to scramble for it. Charlie is much happier accepting the Africans as they are than Rosie is at her inability to change their nature. Once they begin their journey, the first thing Charlie teaches Rosie when handling the tiller is “You’ve got to learn to read the river.” She must understand the river, adapt to it, and not fight it to get along it with as little incident as possible. That night, rain pours down on them, and Charlie looks for shelter under Rosie’s tent, a time when her fighting nature pays off for both of them. When nature throws some rapids at them the next morning, Charlie hopes this will scare Rosie from her determination to continue down the river. Seeing her exhilaration, he realizes he will not get out of the situation so easily and proceeds to get drunk. He awakens to her pouring all his gin into to the river, and pleads with her to understand that it is just human nature for a man to over indulge every now and then. Rosie replies, “Nature, Mr. Ullnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.” She has yet to learn this is not necessarily true. Resolving that it was not his drinking that upset her, but his failure to live up to his promise, they continue down the river. Rosie depends on the sun to hamper with the vision of shooters at the German outpost, and they are rewarded by nature only to be faced with its own obstacle: waterfall rapids. Here they truly work together for the first time, and having survived nature, they give into the love that has been building between them. Upon repairing the damage to the boat, they enjoy a day of easy going and Charlie comments that the river must have gotten tired and decided to rest for a while. Rosie acknowledges that if the river must rest, so should they. They anchor at a bank to discover that the river may be resting, but the rest of nature is not. They are attacked by a swarm of mosquitos, and Rosie finally gives up to the hand of nature. Charlie covers her, finds a way out and Rosie is still at a loss with the seeming circles they have been going in. Seeing Rosie’s weakness clearly, for the first time, Charlie, shining in her presence, encourages her to choose a path. He does everything possible in an effort to return her vigor. He gets out of the boat and pulls it through thick reeds, only to be covered with leeches. He reassumes the task when they realize there is no other option if they are to continue, and watching Charlie face his most dreaded aspect of nature, the sorrow on Rosie’s face is palpable, but her determination returns. They fight together only to be thwarted by nature again. The boat becomes stuck in the mud of the river and Charlie becomes ill. In his delirium, he insists on telling Rosie the truth, that they are finished. All she sees is the man she loves suffering. She relinquishes to that love, and to nature, telling him she knows. She tucks him in, offers a prayer, and resolves to accept whatever happens. They awaken to find that nature had done what they could not, set them free from her. While they slept, enough rain poured to free them from the mud and drift them into the lake. They awaken facing their target dead on, the German ship, Louisa. With renewed strength and courage, they continue with their plan to bomb the Louisa. Again, nature steps in and throws another storm at them the night they set out. Their boat is overturned and Huston flashes to Charlie being interrogated by the German’s. Without Rosie, he cares not what happens to him and talks himself into being hung. When Rosie is brought on the ship, she fully remembers the futility in fighting nature and tells the German’s their exact plans, as they are to be put to death regardless of what they say. After she explains that they failed due to the weather, which she adamantly declares she and Charlie have no control over, nature rewards her acceptance, and turns the African Queen upright. The African Queen rams into the Louisa, the torpedoes detonate, and their goal is finally achieved. By learning the futility of fighting nature, Rosie finds true love and helps win the war against the Germans. As Charlie says, what a time they had, what a time!

Works Cited
The African Queen. Dir. John Huston. Perf. Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn. Horizon Pictures, 1951. DVD.