CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

When one thinks about a life of luxury, one tends to think about material comforts. Perhaps the word evokes financial wealth or social status, but for many “luxury” coveys ideas of security. The unfortunate reality of life in the 21st Century is that luxuries are disappearing. Where they were once a possibility for the working class, true luxury and security is enjoyed by precious few.

This leaves the rest of us to sort through some far more negative feelings, which will perhaps lead us to make some very bad decisions.

CAPTAIN PHILLPS is the story of a cargo ship captain named Rich Phillips (Tom Hanks). Upon taking command of his freighter (The Alabama), he presses his crew on the importance of safety – specifically in the face of pirate attacks, which are common on the route the boat will be taking around the horn of Africa. The crew sees Phillips as being something of a ball-buster; Phillips just sees it as being well-prepared.

Around the time the ship sets sail for Kenya, a small village in Somalia is visited by men representing a Somalian warlord. The natives are told that the warlord “wants another ship”, meaning that a group of them have to bring back a sizeable bounty from a shipping freighter that will be passing along the coast. How its done, and who does it is of no importance. All that matters is that a villager named Muse (Barkhad Abdi) pull together a crew and come back with the loot.

A few days into the Alabama’s journey, Captain Phillips spots two boats following the freighter. Their route, the size of the craft and their speed tips Phillips off to the fact that these are likely Somalian pirates, and he scrambles his crew to do what they can to avoid being boarded without engaging the bandits.

The crew’s first defensive play is successful, but the next day some undeterred pirates return. While help will arrive eventually, The Alabama is again on its own. It’s during this second attack that the freighter is boarded, and while Captain Phillips is successful in keeping his crew safe, he himself is taken captive, leading to a tense stand-off with the pirates as they hole up in The Alabama’s life boat.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is an unexpectedly solid film, helped in no small part by its themes of pressure, necessity and desperation.

As the film opens, we listen to Phillips talk with his wife on the drive to the airport. Like many couples, they discuss what’s going on with their children, with Phillips speaking specifically about their younger son who is in his senior year at high school. The Captain points out that the working world his son is about to enter into is much more difficult than the working world he entered into some thirty-plus years ago. It won’t just be this way for his son; all around the world the pressure is on as businesses want more-for-less…including warlords.

The Somalis aren’t allowed to rest on their laurels after pirating for a warlord. One would think that the life of a criminal allows for certain comforts, but it turns out it’s a job just like any other. So when an armed man rolls into the village and say that the boss wants another freighter looted, the pressure is on. Only the Somalis don’t face pressure for job openings like Phillips’ son; their very lives are threatened.

So pressure gives way to necessity. It’s out of necessity that we see seemingly-upstanding Somalis volunteer for spots on the pirate rig. The men chosen for the mission don’t seem like criminals and thieves, but becoming them even temporarily will allow them a chance at something better. To say they live meagre lives would be putting it mildly, so there’s no real choice in the matter.

This same sense of necessity is visible with the crew of The Alabama. As word of the pirate threat spreads, the crew grows disgruntled. They voice the fact that they aren’t paid well enough to engage with would-be thieves, and likewise point out that their union protects them from being forced into situations like the one Phillips is detailing. However, when Phillips points out that he will allow any of them out of their contract at the next port, the mood shifts. Every member of that crew knows the value of the job they hold, so they may not like what they are sailing into…but will deal with it out of necessity.

Eventually, necessity gives way to desperation. This is what leads the pirates to make a second run at The Alabama with lesser numbers, and what leads them to take Captain Phillips hostage. The pressures and necessities of their lives have pushed them to do something terrible. When that failed, desperation took over. Their plan becomes less calculated, and with that the film becomes more tense. Even Phillips, when kidnapped, begins by trying to stay one calculation ahead of his captors. However, as time ticks on, and the situation becomes more unstable, Phillips too does some desperate things…things which he never would have considered mere hours before.

It all leads to some amazing acting by Tom Hanks in the film’s final scene. It’s not a moment I wish to describe in detail, except to say that I’m hard-pressed to think of a similar moment captured on film, and even if it does exist, I’d argue that such emotion has never been captured with such realism.

Director Paul Greengrass does a splendid job of capturing these emotions and the tension they create. He finds a way to capture a wide range of emotions on the faces of Abdi and the other Somalis: from violence to fear. Having Phillips face down these strangers and not understanding three-quarters of what they creates a white-knuckle experience, even if the audience is fairly certain how everything will turn out.

Matineescore: ★ ★ ★ 1/2 out of ★ ★ ★ ★

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