The Cavalier Daily
Serving the University Community Since 1890

Oh 'Captain' my captain

“Phillips” thrills viewers with apt acting, stellar script

When the credits rolled at the close of Paul Greengrass’s thrilling “Captain Phillips,” based on the 2009 pirate hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, the audience breathed a collective sigh of relief. No more suspense. Your life will never be that stressful. Everything is going to be okay.

The film was gripping without sacrificing cinematic talent, and the performances of first-time Somali actors Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahat Ali were surprisingly strong.

Abdi held his own against Tom Hanks in his depiction of Muse — a defiant but hopeless leader, driven to piracy by desperation in war-torn Somalia. Beyond the pirates’ frankly terrifying performances, the distress pervading the film was mostly thanks to director Paul Greengrass. Employing a shaky handheld camera-style, Greengrass’ work made the story more personal and realistic without nauseating the viewer like the camerawork in “Les Miserables” or parts of “The Hunger Games” tends to. The handheld close-up shots give the viewer a feeling of intrusion into a real-world scenario, ideal for a narrative based on a memoir.

The story follows the journey of Richard Phillips (Hanks), the captain of a ship passing dangerously close to the coast of Somalia as it carries cargo from Oman to Mombasa. At the beginning, the audience sees a glimpse of Phillips’ family life — the content suburban lifestyle juxtaposes sharply with a window into the lifestyle of Muse, who is forced by a warlord to create a pirating team and make money on the high sea.

The film tries to portray the pirates as more than static pathological “bad guys,” and succeeds to some extent. The script acknowledges that the so-called pirates are actually fisherman whose livelihoods have been ruined by American corporations overfishing their waters and dumping toxic waste. The effort was incomplete however, and a more complete backstory for Abdi and his friends would’ve driven home the audience’s understanding of the pirates as victims themselves.

Obviously, however, the viewer’s primary sympathy lies with Hanks, who gives a sincere performance as the leader of the ship, showing a deeply caring man who wants the best for his crew and family. Despite the current controversy about its accuracy — Phillips’ crew is currently suing him for neglect of their safety in ignoring pirate warnings — the film tells a spectacular story.

Comments

Latest Podcast

The University’s Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admission, Greg Roberts, provides listeners with an insight into how the University conducts admissions and the legal subtleties regarding the possible end to the consideration of legacy status.



https://open.spotify.com/episode/02ZWcF1RlqBj7CXLfA49xt