Dec 08, 2013 10:48 PM
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I will start with a confession- I am an ex seafarer and therefore an attraction to this movie, which is based on an shipboard pirate attack, is perhaps inevitable.
Once in a while someone selects an entirely new topic and then weaves a movie around a taut, tense story.This is one such story. They say that good cinema is made on two tables the writing table and the editing table, this movie proves that adage. The movie is based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged container ship MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
It is not the story of a pirate attack as we know from history books about ships from the old and middle ages. This one is from 2009 but an honest attempt is made to find out what exactly is going on inside the mind of the gang of pirates who operate in the 20th century and have million dollar ransoms in mind. Captain Phillips is the captain of a ship which is hijacked after it sails out from Salalah, Oman while proceeding to a port called Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
Obviously, the pirates do not succeed in the end. They are after all fighting against the full might of the United States of America but what are they fighting for? This movie makes an attempt to answer this question. But in the end, leaves it unanswered. Muse, the Somali pirate leader(played by Barkhad Abdi a Hollywood actor) says he got $6 million from the previous Greek ship that he hijacked; 6 million dollar Captain Philips asks? Then what are you doing here? Exactly; it means that the pirates who are carrying out the operation on board are in fact small pawns in this international geo-political game.
While inside the boat over a period of three days. some of the pirates start to have some compassion for Captain Philip which is immediately neutralized by another member of the Pirate team. In the end, three of the pirates are killed with precision while inside the lifeboat and the leader Muse the leader of the Somali gang is then sent to a prison in America. There is no sign of elders who were supposed to make an entry during the final stages of the negotiations on board the US Navy destroyer. Were they bought off or warned not to come to the negotiating table in this instance? We are provided with no answers but there is a political story of negotiation lurking in the background, after all this movie is from the same director who gave you the Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum .Muse’s constant assurance “ Everything is going to be OK “ finally turns out to be a fake but in the end it requires the full might of the US Navy including the Navy seals to rescue Captain Philips.
Tom Hanks as Captain Philips is simply superb and and has been ably supported by the cast of pirates and other crew members on the vessel Maersk Alabama.
Don’t miss this must see movie!
