Kapringen

Plot synopsis:
The film is about ancient business model, already so common in Mediterranean in middle ages when the people of Europe were taken hostage and often spent years or their whole lives waiting for ransom money to be sent to their mostly Moorish or Arab captors in North African coast. The heart of pirate criminality has become Somalia since the collapse of the state over two decades ago. It emanates malignant danger and threat all over Indian Ocean and in this story the victims are a Danish cargo ship's crew.The chef Mikkel is the one who is facing the biggest pressure. Instead of the ship's engineer or the captain he was chosen as the one the negotiators use for initiating contact with Orion Subway's CEO Peter for ransom money. The negotiators want Mikkel to express desperation and genuine fear when asking for exorbitant sums for the lives of the crew and for returning the ship to its owners.And the game of chess begins. The tormenting conditions of the crew linger on for months. Peter is in need of resolution but weighs the accumulating traumas of his men against massive sums of money to be paid to the callous captors. Hostages are the pawns on the chessboard under constant threat of violence by psychopathic, impulsive, illiterate teens waving deadly weapons at their face. Only the negotiator speaks a common language with the crew, the youthful pirates entertain themselves by humiliating the Danes whenever in the mood. During the protracted process there are also better times when slight bonding happens under the duress of the Ocean, but the crew's status as an expensive and valuable merchandise whose state of expressed misery is measurable by the profits gained by the captors and the termination of the whole ordeal warrants occasional abuse.Peter remains firm and resolute, Mikkel's family is desperate and hostage to their circumstances as faraway collateral victims, and Mikkel has resigned to his fate as a commodity to be traded. He can't do much else. Nerves falter, poker faces won't hold and some chips end up snatched forever...

Tags: dramatic, suspenseful, mystery

Review:
Danish filmmaker Tobias Lindholm is steadily making a name for himself; daring filmmaker not afraid to take chances and it pays off in this one.Kapringen (A Hijacking) is sort of the antithesis of a Hollywood hostage drama devoid of tired clichés and the predictable story lines we -- as an audience of generational film-goers -- have become too accustomed to.It features an incredibly in-depth character study from the two main characters: a chef aboard the hijacked ship and the CEO of the shipping company remotely negotiating with the Somali pirates dealing with the incredible pressure and moral dilemmas of the situation.
And because it cuts through all the fluff and artifice that has invaded commercial films without compromising momentum as a situationist thriller, one must concede that Kapringen has upped the ante on Danish rebellion against the Hollywood system.The refusal to include actual scenes of the hijacking in a film specifically titled "A Hijacking" is no accident.A cargo ship MV Rozen is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.
In keeping with Lindholm's debut feature (a prison drama "R"); Kapringen is filmed on location, in chronological sequence and on board a sea freighter that was hijacked in the Indian ocean.
Casting also features a real life hostage negotiator as the central figure and naturally, Somali pirates.Arguably, mechanical reproduction of genuine conditions doesn't guarantee a convincing film but in this case, it does — Kapringen looks so suitably stained with normality that one instantly recognizes the absence of gimmicky aesthetics.
The pirates, led by Omar (Abdihakin Asgar), who claims only to be the negotiator, take the crew of seven hostage and demand a ransom of $19 million in return for the ship and their lives.
After an unnerving silence lasting days, Omar engages Peter Ludvigsen (Søren Malling), CEO of the shipping company, in a psychological game of negotiation that shreds the nerves of both Peter and the hostages.Kapringen (A Hijacking) focuses on Peter, who shuns the offer of a trained negotiator, and three of his crew: Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk), the ship's cook; Jan (Roland Møller), an engineer; and the captain (Keith Pearson).
With pressure from the board to resolve the situation, the burden of facing distraught family members and his own guilt at being unable to solve the crises with an instant payment, Peter struggles to gain the upper hand where his failure will mean the deaths of his men.Tobias Lindholm, who co-wrote 2012's excellent Jagten (The Hunt) writes and directs this critically acclaimed film with a similar approach, refusing to spoon feed us with gimmickry or overstated episodes, instead preferring to leave us to join the dots, to imagine what is happening in the hours, days and weeks that Kapringen passes over.
His (lack of?) acting prowess jars at times but the impression he gives of improvising his advice as the actors around him play their own parts in the crisis adds a certain depth and reality to Kapringen.Malling (A Royal Affair and TV's The Killing and Borgen) gives a very restrained, but moving performance as a man who takes control through his arrogance but also needs to take responsibility so as not to feel impotent.
This hostage drama shows two different worlds: the despair of the crew on a vessel that has been hijacked by Somalian pirates, and the concern of the management of their shipping company in Copenhagen.
The film switches from the clean offices in Copenhagen, where the CEO negotiates about the ransom, to the ship where the cook lives in continuous fear of being killed.
The films both tell the same story of cargo freighters hijacked by Somali pirates who seek millions in ransom.
"A Hijacking" is a tense, grounded-in-reality based drama without the sense of comfort of a predetermined finale.A Danish cargo ship named the "MV Rozen" is en route to Mumbai when Somali renegades gain control of the vessel and demand millions for the return of the ship's seven-man crew.
Shot with hand-held cameras, the movie cross-cuts between two perspectives: the captured vessel's cook Mikkel Hartmann (Pilou Asbæk), and the maritime company's hands-on CEO Peter Ludvigsen (Søren Malling).At the outset, the two characters share a common interest, but as the bartering drags on for months, the uncertainty of an outcome takes these two men in very different directions.
I don't know the details of Greengrass' film, but I presume the basic principle is the same as this film, which sees Somali pirates take over a Danish cargo ship and demand millions of US dollars for its release.
The drama in this case unfolds in the boardroom of the company (focused on CEO Ludvigsen) and on the ship (focused on cook Mikkel).The film puts an emphasis on realism in how it delivers the story to the viewer; conference calls between the CEO and the pirates are filmed as conference calls (complete with time lag and echo) and the expert in maritime security that the fictional company brings in is indeed not an actor but someone who does this for a living for a shipping company.
I particularly liked Porter; occasionally he is a little clunky when working with the actors as a performance, but generally when he is in "the room" where he works in real life then he is a great presence and again really helps the sense of realism.Kapringen maybe doesn't have the large budget or production aims of a bigger film, but the focus on realism in the making of the film pays off to produce a story that is tense and engaging throughout.
"A Hijacking" will invariably be compared to "Captain Phillips" if for no other reason than it came out in the same year and is about a cargo ship being hijacked by Somali pirates.
"A Hijacking" is more about the emotional and psychological toll the situation takes on the film's key players, namely the cook, Mikkel, one of the hostages on board the ship, and Peter, the CEO of the company that owns the ship, on land.
The film is comical in a morbid kind of way -- by the end, the CEO and the contact man for the pirates are exchanging faxes to negotiate an agreed upon ransom while the men on the boat rot.
The focus of the crew is on the cook (Pilou Asbaek) and the negotiations take place between the company's CEO (Soren Malling) and an English speaking pirate (Abdihakin Asgar).
Though not compelling, the film is nonetheless interesting, and there are a few scenes that are exceptional (e.g., the catching and eating of a fish).(FWIW – I was once a POW in an African prison where I spent a month during which the government negotiated (unsuccessfully) for my release, so I have some knowledge of what goes on under these kinds of circumstances, although my situation was obviously different from the one depicted in this film.).
Realism is always a core element in their plots, irrespective of the genre, unlike films from other parts of the world.Tobias Lindholm's Kapringen (A Hijacking) is one such film.At first glance, it will definitely remind you of Captain Phillips because the theme revolves around a vessel hijacking by a group of Somali Pirates.
Tobias masterfully captures the scenes behind such a hijacking – the lives of the sailors held in captivity, sandwiched between merciless pirates and their stubborn company officials who refuse to let the pirates dictate terms.The movie is indeed a lesson in negotiation and crisis management.
The film has the same strong psychological tension without much physical action, the same combination which made Jagten such a strong film.The story is that of a Danish freighter being hijacked by Somali pirates, and the negotiations that follow.Half the film takes place on the ship, truly capturing the cramped pressure the crew is in, who do not even know if the others on the same ship are OK and are hardly able to communicate with their Somali captors.
The other half takes place around the negotiation team in Denmark, where the company's CEO experiences a whole different kind of stress and pressure while handling the uncertainties that come with dealing with foreign demands over a crappy and intermittent phone line.Kapringen is not a thriller, it's a very emphatic observation.
Ludvigsen (Soren Malling) takes it upon himself to act as a go between, against the advice of a professional they have called in, with negotiator Omar (Abdihakin Asgar) who is on board with the pirates and the captives.
Having not buckled at the original ransom figure, and trying to get it down to a more reasonable demand, this time in line with what the professional advised, they find themselves in a devastating battle of wits with the pirates that lasts an unbelievable four months and leaves ship's chef Mikkel (Pilou Asbaek) doubting his sanity and fearing the worst.Once again world cinema strikes itself a blow with an outstanding effort that wouldn't have stood a chance of being bettered by Hollywood.
And while it's the desperation of the crew you feel most for, you can't help but wonder, if not sympathize, with the pirates for how desperate they themselves must feel to drag the siege out so long.A Danish production has tackled a true life story that is a modern phenomenon in the world at the moment, and crafted an unshowy, uncomfortably realistic and naturally human account that begs to be seen.
Reaching Western shores around the same time as a much more higher profile hijacking picture with a certain star actor, Danish director Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking (or Kapringen in its native language) is an equally taut and affecting tale of people caught up in these horrifying scenarios and also looks at the other side with those affected by the ordeal even though they are safe on land.As is the case with many foreign films, Lindholm's feature doesn't include your typical Hollywood styled lead turn as he is more interested in the scenario than the people.
The films focus is really on two men in the forms of Pilou Asbaek's on board chef Mikkel and Soren Malling's shipping company CEO Peter and both these men deliver really fine performances in roles that require varying ranges of emotions and demeanour.
These lead actors are well backed up by Abdihakin Asgar and Roland Moller as the pirate's translator Omar and ships engineer Jan respectively.While these actors are all on fine form it's the direction that the films story takes that transcends it to a more moving experience.
While Captain Phillips was moving for other reasons, A Hijacking's focus on the negotiation between corporate suits and desperate pirates is an exceptional one that will have you mad at the playing with people's lives and joyful at small wins in equal measure and it's a real testament to Lindholm that he balances the ordeal on ship and in the offices of multi-million dollar corporations to such effective degrees.Minimalistic in many ways with barely any backstory, flashy filming techniques or even music to accompany the events taking place, A Hijacking is a very raw and real look into a frightening situation that can happen anywhere in the world.
With top quality acting and a razor sharp script (Lindholm also wrote the fantastic The Hunt, so this is no one off) this is one foreign film worth tracking down and different enough from Captain Phillips to recommend another trip to the dangerous pirate infested high seas.4 fax's out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out -www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com.
It means nothing to them." Connor Julian (Gary Porter)If you want a reason to avoid a vacation that takes you to the Indian Ocean, then see A Hijacking, a cinema verite rendering of the harrowing experience that has Somali pirates holding a tanker and its 7 man crew hostage for ransom from a Danish company.
The claustrophobia of Das Boot is there as well as the pressure at the company in Copenhagen and the homes of the crew.Most of all, writer-director Tobias Lindholm has neatly juxtaposed Mikkel (Pilou Asbaek), the cook of the ship, a family-loving sailor, with Peter (Soren Malling), CEO of the company, to maximum emotional effect.
The director does not spend wasteful time with grieving families, as most American disaster films do, but rather builds a believable scenario of almost impossible trial for the CEO and the crew; the pirates rarely are stressed, a scary circumstance as we realize they don't need to be anyway.Just hope you never have this trip..
'Kapringen' - or 'A Hijacking' as it is better known, this Danish thriller focuses on a ship hijacked by Somali pirates and the emotional toll on the crew members.
'A Hijacking' could even be thought of as the flipside of 'Captain Phillips' as less than half the action occurs on board, with the most of it set in offices as an emotionally distanced CEO and company board members attempt to negotiate with the pirates by phone.
Inspired by true eventsDanish cargo ship, MV Rozen, on its way to Mumbai is hijacked by Somali pirates, and hostages are taken.
Now the CEO Peter Ludvigsen (Soren Malling) of the shipping company must negotiate with the pirates, who are demanding $15-million.
No, this is a very slow, but realistic portrayal of Somali pirates, their hostages and the negotiations with CEO Peter Ludvigsen in Denmark.
But behind the cold calculations and handling of the situation (what follows when a cargo ship belonging to a big Scandinavian company is hijacked by modern-day pirates), there is the intense drama of the hostages, their families, the hijackers and the negotiators.
The viewer is kept guessing throughout (this isn't a Hollywood-style adventure) and the slow but gradual dissolution of "the ship's cook" may well have inspired the closing scenes of another recent Somali-hijacking movie, CAPTAIN PHILIPS (which I also liked, but which clearly wasn't going to end with anything untoward happening to star Tom Hanks).
A Battle of Wills - and Wits - Fought In Copenhagen and At Sea. Based on real-life events, Tobias Lindholm's drama focuses on the consequences of a hijacking of a Danish cargo ship bound for India by Somali pirates.
What sets it apart from other hijacking films is its focus on the delicate negotiations between the pirates, their mediator Omar (Abdihakin Asgar), and Peter Ludvigsen, the CEO of the cargo ship company (Soren Malling) back in Copenhagen.
Meanwhile, back on the cargo ship, director Lindholm shows how the hijacking affects the crew, especially ship's cook Mikkel Hartmann (Pilou Asbæk).
That is all to bring the real time feel of the situation that takes place over a 4 months from hijack to release of the ship.When they engage in negotiation, on the other side where the ship crews are held as hostage are begin to affect in delusion for lack of good food and loneliness in their trapped room.
"A Hijacking" is more of a personal drama than action film.The lead character in in the person of the cook, Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk).
We only understand their English-speaking negotiator, Omar.They also show the tension going on in the board room of the shipping company in the person of their icy and soulless CEO (Søren Malling).
A Hijacking - Kapringen is Lindholm's second feature film, his first R is a tale of even bleaker conditions and circumstances than this realistic and powerful story of a ransom drama.
The famed Spanish writer of Don Quijote Miguel de Cervantes was perhaps the most famous case, and his writing was strongly inspired by his fate at the hands of his Moorish captors in Algeria.Pilou Asbaek stars again in the main role like in Lindholm's previous film R as a ship's chef Mikkel and the representative of the crew used by the negotiator Omar to initiate contact with the owners of the cargo ship.
The two central characters are the ship's cook and the company's C.E.O., who negotiates the crew's release after over four months.
There is an almost obsessive concern for realism- the scenes with the crew and the pirates were filmed on a real freighter- which had itself once been hijacked- off the coast of Somalia; the offices of a real shipping company were used; the hostage negotiator used as a consultant plays the part of a hostage negotiator.
The families of the hijacked crew and the CEO of the company that owns the ship are also some of the characters of the film.
Once the ship was hijacked, the parent company for some reason entered into long drawn out negotiations rather than simply allow the insurance company to make the payment and get the crew home as they typically do.Søren Malling played the CEO who is torn between saving the crew and saving a dollar.
After a brief introduction to the crew of the ship it is hijacked by Somali pirates whose 'negotiator' Omar contacts the ship's owners to let them know what is happening.
Weeks then months pass as the negotiations move at glacial speed; while this is going life for the crew is getting uncomfortable; there are highs, such as the moment they are allowed to do some fishing, but for most of the time there is a constant sense of danger.It is inevitable that this film will be compared with 'Captain Philips' as both concern ships hijacked by Somali pirates however they have significant differences.
The other two are the ships' cook, Mikkel, who, as the film's principle lead at sea, becomes our entry point to the drama taking place there, and the mysterious Omar, who claims to be simply a translator and under as much threat as anyone else, but may perhaps be a whole lot more.The occupation and negotiations drag on, weeks turn into months.
Fans of Danish television political drama 'Borgen' might be interested to know that several of its cast members turn up in 'A Hijacking', wherein a Danish cargo ship and its crew are held to ransom by Somali pirates.
A Danish cargo ship is commandeered by Somali pirates who demand 15 million euros ransom.