![]() The humanising of the Somali pirates is helped by the fact that despite being the villains of the film, they are also consistently the underdogs, and as an audience there is something in us which is compelled to sympathise with the underdog. Instead of one collection of bad guys we see four distinctly different men, displaying different emotions and reacting to the experience, and to the figure of Phillips, in individual ways. In doing so he gives us access to those characters. Greengrass breaks from Phillips’ point of view by subtitling the Somali characters, so that unlike Phillips we can always understand what they are saying. One of the great strengths of Captain Phillips is the way that it chooses to humanise the Somali characters when it so easily could have presented them as a terrifying other. Hanks’ performance is complemented by some equally strong work from the supporting cast, most notably the four first time actors who deliver impressively nuanced performances as the Somali pirates. The film’s final scenes, in which Phillips, who has to this point been so measured, is simply unable to process the incredible ordeal he has just been through, are devastatingly effecting and some of the best screen acting you will ever see. The brilliance of Hanks’ performance is that so much of it is about what the character is thinking. A veteran seaman, Phillips is a cool head under pressure and a quick thinker. Captain Phillips is intense, gripping storytelling.Įmotionally, the film is carried by a stunning performance from Tom Hanks. But don’t let Greengrass’ devotion to detail and process fool you into thinking this film is in any way bland. We see not only how a small group of pirates can take possession of a massive container ship, but also the processes the container ships go through in the face of a pirate threat. Almost a docu-drama, the film shows us how high seas piracy functions in the modern world. Part of what makes Captain Phillips so interesting is the procedural nature of the film. While we have all heard about Somali pirates, the notion of seafaring pirates seems so old-fashioned that it is, for the uninitiated, difficult to fathom how the practice still takes place. This is particularly effective in a later segment when the action shifts to a more-claustrophobic setting.In 2009, international headlines were made when Richard Phillips, the captain of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama, was taken hostage by Somali pirates for four days before being rescued by the US Navy and now Paul Greengrass has brought the story to the screen in the impressive Captain Phillips. Greengrass brings the urgency of the “Bourne” films he has directed to the proceedings, with hand-held cameras that add to the immediacy (or make you queasy, if you don’t like that sort of thing). He is a desperate man, thrust into a desperate situation. And a scene at the end, again without spoiling things, is astonishing. ![]() Hanks shines as the taciturn Phillips, with none of the good-guy charm we’re used to coming through. The easy solutions are rarely as simple as we imagine. Here, as with depicting why the Somalis resort to piracy, Greengrass shows us why things play out the way they sometimes do. It takes strategy, patience and immense concentration. Yet there is more to simply overpowering your opponent. Navy and its SEAL teams called in.Īgain, it seems like a David-and-Goliath situation, and in some respects it is. ![]() Without giving too much away, the latter third of the film becomes a rescue mission, with the might of the U.S. It’s an interesting concept, but events conspire to push it to the back burner. Both are captains of a crew they don’t really relate to, and both are seeking control. We’re meant to draw parallels between Phillips and Muse, it seems. It’s almost surreal: these four men, well-armed but over-matched, at least in terms of sophistication, trying to take charge. ![]() They manage to board and demand money from Phillips and the crew. It will prove to be a little bit bigger boat than they bargained for. When they come upon the Maersk Alabama, it’s like winning the lottery. So a man named Muse (Barkhad Abdi) and others head to sea in rickety boats, looking for a boat to steal from. His demeanor - and his thugs - makes it clear that this is not a negotiation. A local warlord, who obviously terrifies the villagers, arrives and berates the people: They need to make him more money, and seizing ships is the way to do it. Then Greengrass takes us to Somalia, where a different kind of preparation is underway.
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