taught, well directed, well acted movie, and really really sad

Rating: 9/10 (10 November 2013)

see the movie, on it's own terms, most excellent, does it matter that important aspects of the actual events are, at the very least, heavily disputed? - not in regard to the movie itself, the politics of the movie were not awful, more reportorial than anything, unlike "zero dark thirty" that claimed it was based on true events but then made up torture sequences that seemed to produce useful information (there is no proof of this). The interactions of the actors was intense, believable and dramatic. And my sense of Captain Phillips, as portrayed by Hanks was not obviously righteous, heroic or commanding, a nuanced role and good on Hanks who I often find cloying and silly. His Captain Phillips seemed to be stubborn for the sake of being stubborn, it wasn't clear what his actions were in service to frankly, pissing off the pirates, etc and apparently, according to the actual crew, this destructive stubbornness was an a major character issue/flaw, and Hanks kind of nailed it. I actually was more interested in how this played out for the pirates. Think of what they were doing, although in service to illegal activity, it was definitionally heroic, desperate and doomed as they were eventually surrounded by the US Navy. They were effectively put into a laboratory situation where it was only a matter of time. This sense of doom made the whole affair profoundly sad. Which made the movie very powerful, probably in ways that were not really intended. The Somalis often live in desperate conditions in a country without an effective government and with few ways to actually support themselves, the references to fishing were accurate as the whole piracy thing first started as Somalis tried to protect their fishing grounds from invasive fishing by other countries. Further, the cost of the US operation (which has done NOTHING to stem piracy in the area) probably cost far more than any ransom demanded. Given this background, the movie brings up huge issues regarding rich and poor nations, resource use, etc and how this inequality results, necessarily in violence, both the passive violence of poverty and the active violence of kinetic weapons. A similar movie in some aspects, although less subtle, "black hawk down" was also profoundly sad, notwithstanding the cartoonish gunning down of "dark people" by the hundreds by the hamfisted, well armed but ultimately doomed US troops. From the point of view of the movie and the actual events, well, that's showbiz, the real Captain Phillips probably was even less heroic than shown in the movie, the anti-labor scene in service to awful anti-communitarian/labor positions so rampant in the US, and no mention of the 50 million dollar lawsuit against the shipping company by 11 of the crew, a lawsuit speaking directly to Phillips incompetent and grossly endangering behavior. Again, a really good movie, just like "a beautiful mind" which also got major facts wrong, like the fact that the major character was gay, that he divorced his wife, etc. Unfortunately, movies stand in for history, no matter how inaccurate they are.