I remember hearing about this story in the news and wondering about our modern high tech age. This is an age where America supposedly owns the seas and our tricked out military mariners control all they survey. It became apparent that in this day and age, though the US Navy is the supreme power on the sea and other nations besides us sport potent maritime power, the piracy plaguing the horn of Africa like the days of old revealed that the power, as always, has limits.
In the news, the details weren't clear, at least in the stories I heard. What I had heard was that some Somaili pirates had somehow taken a merchant marine ship captain hostage and was later rescued by US Navy SEAL snipers. It did sound at the time like a tale ready made for Hollywood emulation. I see that I wasn't alone in that evaluation. Paul Greengrass, director of some of the Borne films as well as having a background in TV journalism, brings both the documentary and thriller sensibilities to this film to great effect. He clearly shows the modern military action elements, but doesn't overplay them at all. He also shows the clearly human heart beating among all the players, the freighter crew, pirates and US Navy alike, but avoids Hollywood-esque sentimentality and schmaltz. He tries to remain true to the events as reported and lets the story spin itself. All to the good.
First, we contrast two crews preparing to take to sea. First up is Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), the leader of the pirate crew. He frankly is reluctant to go to see, having been part of a successful pirate haul recently. But his bosses push him into taking the job. We then see Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) being driven out to meet his ship, the Mearske Alabama, talking with his wife about their kids, concern about how they are doing in school and how "tough" the modern working place is, that kind of thing.
The Mearske Alabama is then seen at sea, on route. Captain Phillips begins instilling new drills and disciplines in his crew as preventive measures against piracy, which they grumblingly go along with, clearly not taking it seriously. His officers are more cooperative, but the crew seems to not be too concerned about the possibility of pirate attacks. But one day, Muse's crew and Phillips' intersect. And a long stand off begins.
This was a gripping modern sea story and several things really stood out for me. First off, I love the contrast of the two crews, Phillips's and Muse's. Phillips' crew is mostly civilian blue collar, paid well and just see themselves getting a paycheck. They slouch their way through the anti-pirate drills, grumbling and doing the bare minimum. But when things get real, they seem to snap to. I was rather impressed by what even an unarmed freighter can do against marauding pirates when the crew knows what it is doing and sets it's mind to the task.
Then, there were the pirates. The modern African sea marauders aren't the fabled sea bandits of old. These are desperate thieves who just want to make enough cash to hopefully retire and not have to do that anymore. They see themselves as having little alternative. Now, Muse is leading a group of cowards and scum, it would seem, but he seems to have a decent bone or two in his body. He is interested in avoiding bloodshed and is also open to the humanity of his prey.
The third crew in consideration, the US Navy, the model of efficiency, are also human, but extremely proficient and focused, both the ship crews and the SEALs. Behind those eyes, you can see the emotions and the minds working. But the training has taken over and they are running the scenario.
A modern sea tale and a contrast of crews.
This was a great film.
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