{"id":15831,"date":"2013-10-13T19:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T02:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/?p=15831"},"modified":"2013-10-15T12:28:07","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T19:28:07","slug":"captain-phillips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/captain-phillips\/","title":{"rendered":"Captain Phillips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Film (2013)<\/p>\n

Directed by Paul Greengrass
\nScreenplay by Billy Ray
\nBased upon the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea<\/em> (2010) by Richard Phillips (with Stephan Talty)<\/p>\n

Music: Henry Jackman; Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd; Film Editing: Christopher Rouse; Casting: Francine Maisler\t<\/p>\n

With Tom Hanks (Captain Richard Phillips), Barkhad Abdi (Muse), Barkhad Abdirahman (Bilal), Faysal Ahmed (Najee), Mahat M. Ali (Elmi), Michael Chernus (Shane Murphy), Catherine Keener (Andrea Phillips)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>
Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Phillips
in “Captain Phillips”
Photo: Hopper Stone, SMPSP
\u00a9 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A suspenseful dramatization of the 2009 kidnapping of Richard Phillips, a captain of a civilian container ship, by Somali pirates off the coast of East Africa.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

We all know that Tom Hanks can portray the heroic man in the street better than almost anyone and do it with both a sense of gravitas and a twinkle in his eye. A genuine nobility radiates from Hanks and, while maintaining a common touch, he naturally lends great dignity to his roles. <\/p>\n

Here he plays a guy who has to maintain his cool through the torment of protecting his ship and his crew when attacked by pirates, and then preserving himself when taken hostage by them. Hanks succeeds admirably in conveying this aura of composure amidst horror, but, when the time comes, gives, as well, a compelling and heartrending account of the vivid after-effects of the trauma.<\/p>\n

\"Faysal<\/a>
Faysal Ahmed as Najee
Barkhad Abdi as Muse
Barkhad Abdirahman as Bilal
Mahat M. Ali as Elmi
in “Captain Phillips”
Photo: Jasin Boland
\u00a9 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hanks is great, but he is almost always great at what he does well, which is exactly this sort of thing. <\/p>\n

The unexpected standout in this film is Barkhad Abdi (Muse), who plays a terrifying pirate. His performance is completely convincing because he is so deftly able to present his character as though he were both a highly intelligent guerilla leader and a complete lunatic in a state of panic. Abdi and his fellow pirates, Barkhad Abdirahman (Bilal), Faysal Ahmed (Najee), and Mahat M. Ali (Elmi), convey a very real and scary simulation of what this terrified and terrifying mind-set is like. <\/p>\n

An interesting profile of actor Barkhad Abdi<\/a>, who plays the pirate, Muse, in Captain Phillips<\/em> (from The Los Angeles Times<\/em>). When director Paul Greengrass cast him, Abdi was driving a limo in Minneapolis.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In the midst of the pure suspense, there are some allusions to the larger social context in which this event occurs. A comment here or there suggests the hopelessness of the life of average Somalis and the economic and social pressures that lead young and desperate men to piracy. Allusions to the overarching expectations from powerful war lords abound, though we do not actually see any of them. Though the film itself focuses on the pirate attack and the abduction, this larger social landscape is intermittently, but powerfully, suggested.<\/p>\n

\"Faysal<\/a>
Faysal Ahmed as Najee
Barkhad Abdi as Muse
Barkhad Abdirahman as Bilal
Mahat M. Ali as Elmi
in “Captain Phillips”
Photo: Hopper Stone, SMPSP
\u00a9 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A film short nominated for an Oscar in 2013, Asad<\/a>, directed by Bryan Buckley, is also about Somalis and piracy. In its 18 minutes, however, it gives such a rich social and moral perspective on the issue from the Somali point of view that one sees vividly through multiple layers of social fabric and gets a riveting sense of the heartbreaking complexity of the culture. Do try to see it if you can. It is, at the very least, an extremely helpful supplement to Captain Phillips<\/em>, which, though well done, is primarily a suspense film. And, apart from its background interest, Asad<\/em> is a really great film in its own right.<\/p>\n

Richard Phillips, A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

– BADMan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Film (2013)
\nDirected by Paul Greengrass
\nScreenplay by Billy Ray
\nWith Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi<\/strong>
\nA suspenseful dramatization of the 2009 kidnapping of Richard Phillips, a captain of a civilian container ship, by Somali pirates off the coast of East Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-movies","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15831"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15863,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15831\/revisions\/15863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}