I actually didn’t think I’d enjoy this movie as much as I did. The story portrayed two sides which were neither evil nor good and I like movies like that – movies that are perceptive rather than biased. I wouldn’t say I came out feeling like I encountered a bunch of new revelations but it was very thought provoking. The plot was quite simple but the relationship of the two captains, Richard Phillips and Abduwali Muse, was what added a layer of complexity to the story.
Here's the trailer:
Summary
The story began with Phillips taking charge of a cargo ship
routed from Oman to Mombasa through the Gulf of Aden where they were followed
by two skiffs each carrying a number of pirates. Though Phillips and his crew
managed to outrun them, the following day a single skiff returned with four
armed pirates all whom succeeded boarding the ship eventually. Phillips
commanded his crew to shut the ship down and hide at the engine room leaving
him and three others at the mercy of the pirates.
The leading pirate, Muse, decided to search for the remaining crew members alone in order to get the cargo ship going but in the process gets captured by the crewmen. The crew issues an exchange, that they will let the pirates leave on a lifeboat with Captain Muse and US$30,000 if they let Captain Phillips and the rest go unharmed. The pirates agree but while Phillips showed them how to operate the lifeboat, they take off with him to fish an even bigger ransom from the Americans.
It would take two days for the lifeboat to reach Somalia and
in that time the US Navy destroyer USS Bain Bridge arrived to negotiate with
the pirates. When that proved futile, SEAL marksmen were dispatched to
eliminate the pirates and they succeeded. Muse on the other hand was tricked
into boarding the Navy Ship and was taken back to the US to face trial.
Interpreting Captain Phillips
One of the prevailing themes in the story is obviously
recognizing the huge gap between the rich and poor nations. To some degree both
understand each other but their conflict of interest disables either one to
fully submit to the other and allowing us, the audience, to sympathize with
them both. The fact this story is based on actual events probably made it
easier to draw genuine dialogue between both parties to portray the idea that ‘they’
are quite like ‘us’.
As the pirates prepare to embark on their siege we are instantly drawn to them given that we see the portrait of their situation and seeing their agonized humanity. They go out there not because they choose to but in their poverty, it is because they have to.
When we think of ‘pirates’ we imagine a person of evil, a label that dehumanizes somebody. Later we learn that despite his gun and the hunger in his eyes, Muse carries a kind of affection that reminds us he is still human. He too fears like we do. For one, he admits defeat at the chain of commands he is subjected to. “I have bosses”, he tells Phillips in which the latter responds that he shares the same sentiment “we all have bosses”. When Muse bragged about how he once brought back 6 million dollars from a ship he captured and Phillips asking him what he was still doing "fishing" here then, we suddenly understand his unresponsiveness. It was Muse's humaness that kept Phillips alive and Najee's soaring temper from killing the American captain. He also showed concern when teenage Bilal decided to tag along for the catch.
All throughout we get the idea that Phillips is a captain
who just wants to keep his crew alive and safe. In the same manner, we realise
that Muse and his crew displayed a similar kind of concern for each other. We recognize
that they did not sacrifice Muse when he was captured and that Muse became
concerned for the well-being of injured Bilal.
After understanding these similarities we come to admit that
what separates ‘us’ from ‘them’ is in fact our wealth and privilege. The
instability in poorer nations and the gap between the first and third worlds
are carved by the powers of the wealthy. When Muse demanded payment for entering
their waters, Phillips retorted that they are not in Somalian waters but on
international waters. Anyone had access. Muse simply told him that there
are no fishes in their waters because wealthy nations have fished them all and
with that, they needed to fish for other things to survive. In other words, their capture was their own doing.
When Phillips tried to reason with Muse he told him, “there's got to be something other than being a fisherman or kidnapping people.” And Muse replied, “Maybe in America, Irish, maybe in America”. Some nations are more hopeful than others.
When Phillips tried to reason with Muse he told him, “there's got to be something other than being a fisherman or kidnapping people.” And Muse replied, “Maybe in America, Irish, maybe in America”. Some nations are more hopeful than others.
Their being is indeed created in our disregard of them for
our own desire to survive. Towards the end of the film we see once more the
division between the wealth of the first world and the poverty of the third
world. Poor nations achieve things by hard work and guts, wealthy nations
succeed in technological advancement. In the beginning the skiffs pursued a
huge ship and tried to bring it down with only a few men. In contrast to the
ending of the film, the pirates were in turn pursued by a naval fleet and
SEALs. While the pirates were abandoned by their mother ship, the US government
pursued four pirates to rescue one man.
Yep, lots of things to think about after watching that.
Peaces all.
