The Hijacking of the Maersk Alabama

Rating: 5/10 (28 January 2014)

The 2013 film Captain Phillips is adapted by Billy Ray from the 2010 book A Captain's Duty: Somali Prates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, written by Stephan Talty and Captain Richard Phillips, but was originally inspired by the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking by four Somali pirates led by Abduwali Muse on the Indian Ocean. Captain Richard Phillips was a merchant captain of the cargo ship Maersk at the time of the hijacking. The book tells the story of the hijacking and the capture of Phillips by the pirates, and not only does it tell his harrowing tale, but how his family, living in Vermont, was dealing with the drama unfolding on television. With 30 years of experience at the time, he tells in the literature of how he attempted to keep the crew hidden and safe, with only himself as a possible hostage. All of this led to the drama of many days in the Maersk's lifeboat with the pirates. The U.S. Navy, aware of the hijacking, put together a very large force, with tensions rising and Phillips fearing for his life. The ship was headed for Mombasa, Kenya when the four young pirates attacked and managed to board the ship. Having received training in dealing with piracy, the crew (14 of them) was taken into what was called a secure room by the chief engineer Mike Perry. Using tactics to avoid being board proved ineffectual and the pirates managed to take the ship. With all the systems shut down, the entire ship went black. It is here that Captain Phillips and several other crew members were captured and where the pirates learned that they could not control the ship. With Perry outside the secure room, he managed in the dark to take the leader of the pirate's prisoner and other crew members stabbed one of the pirates in the hand. Negotiations by the crew and the pirates fell through and the captain with the pirates went into the lifeboat showing them how it operated and fleeing the ship. The USS Bainbridge arrived and took the ship to its original destination. At this point, the lifeboat was surrounded by not only the Bainbridge, but the USS Halyburton. Here Phillips attempted to escape but was recaptured. Attempting to hook up with their comrades and trying to anchor near Somali shores where they could hide the captain, and let them land quickly if the lifeboat was attacked. The Maersk arrived in Mombasa, Kenya with the U.S. military escort. The lifeboat was then persuaded to be towed by the Bainbridge. A marksman opened fire and killed three of the pirates on the lifeboat; Phillips was rescued while the fourth pirate, Abduwali Muse, was aboard the Bainbridge and treated for an injury, was arrested. Muse was eventually taken to America for trial, charged as an adult (he was 18-years- old not the 15 or 16 he was trying to convince the court), and was sentenced to over 33 years in prison. The lifeboat, bullet holes and all, was donated to the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Florida. This book is very detailed explaining the captain's attempted escape and his rescue by Navy SEALs. The film is faithful to the literature and the events that took place during April 2009 and is a literally translation with some dramatic fictionalization taken by the director Paul Greengrass and screenwriters to make this a thrilling suspenseful action movie and to bring alive events that took place; even though, many who may have viewed this film already knew what had happened. Tom Hanks plays the role of Richard Phillips very well, but Barkhad Abdi is excellent in his first movie role as the Somali pirate Abduwali Muse. The plot and storyline as I have already stated follows the overall sequence of events that transpired during the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. There is little difference between the film version and the literature's version of what happened. The dialog is crisp, but it is hard to understand with all of the yelling particularly in the lifeboat between the pirates. The use of intertitle cards was helpful, but had to be read to understand what was transpiring between the characters and distracted from the viewing of the film. Costumes and makeup appear to be accurate, again to bring the film to life; camera angles and the cinematography was handled well by Greengrass and Barry Ackroyd, with fine editing by Christopher Rouse to have the movie become the suspenseful film that it has become.