A real friend would have done this...

1900 was an oddity, a unique person who was connected to a boat. Just because you didn't like dosen't make it dumb.

"Whoo! Whoo! Hey, Parny. I'm going to Chicago, baby! I'm driving a stick!"

Have you not read "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville? It's a similar story.

In his final speech, the Pianist said he could not live anywhere else but in that ship of his own little world, from beginning to end, from start to finish, like a piano piece. His brief glimpse of Another (a fantasy lovely woman) was pathetically sad, hence that particular melody that he composed.

At the end, "1900" said he was afraid to step onto Land: Where he saw that many thousands of people can make millions of choices, and find lovely women, and have so many choices... and also play piano music better than him, perhaps? And he asked, where is my own place?

Of course his final choice was fearful and stupid. That's the tragic end of this sad movie. He was afraid to open his own heart, and start over, as his friend advised.

However, the "Piano Duel" was pretty good. I wish I could buy that whole scenario.

I'm not sure if that would've worked. Yes, 1900 was scared of land. He also said he was scared of the infinity of the world. What if moving to another boat meant for 1900 moving into another world, another source of infinity?

For someone like 1900 who had maybe issues with anxiety, the notion of change itself could've been impossibly difficult. Moving into another boat could've been a big change. What I would've done was bring a psychologist/psychiatrist/therapist to 1900.

However, the boat was scheduled to be detonated, and the logistics of bringing in a mental health professional would've been difficult. This logistics problem would've been much more difficult with bringing in a new boat. Maybe Max could've gone to the police or a judge or something to delay the detonation? Would something like that be fast enough?

Of course, we're both just speculating here. You gave an interesting suggestion that I didn't think of. Oh, the what-if's.