Captain Phillips: Movie-induced PTSD [OPEN SPOILERS]

[El_Kabong]

Didn’t see a thread yet, so here it is.

Captain Phillips recounts the events of an attempted pirate attack on the container ship Maersk Alabama, off Somalia in April 2009. Tom Hanks plays the vessel’s master, Richard Phillips, while an extraordinary group of non-professionals, selected from an open casting call and led by Barkhad Abdi, make up the Somali pirates. The film is directed by Paul Greengrass, from a screenplay by Billy Ray.

The story loosely follows actual events: the pirates manage to break through the ship’s rudimentary defenses and take over the bridge, but with most of the crew barricaded below decks, are unable to control the vessel. They then elect to depart in the container ship’s lifeboat, keeping Captain Phillips as a hostage. At that point several US Navy ships show up and desperate negotiations ensue as the pirates become more and more twitchy over their increasingly hopeless position.

First things first: even though I already knew the general details of the story and its outcome going in, this is one of the most tension-filled films I’ve ever experienced. The intensity ratchets up pretty much the moment the pirates’ skiff appears on the horizon and doesn’t let up until just before the credits. I was actually shaking and in tears by the time Hanks’ character is rescued, and I almost never have that kind of visceral reaction to a film. I’m thus very curious as to how others who have seen it may have reacted.

Next, there are at least two Oscar-worthy performances here: Hanks as Phillips and Abdi as Muse, the painfully gaunt and out-of-his-depth leader of the pirate band. Hanks gets the details right, without flash: a spot-on rendition of Phillips’ slightly odd New England accent; the close eye he keeps on his crew and the vessel; and if he seems a bit emotionless early on, in a riveting five-minute scene in a Navy sick bay following his rescue, he seems just the sort of complete mess any civilian might be after the traumatizing events of the previous several days. Meanwhile, Abdi (and the other Somalis) provide impressive depth to their roles, portraying real, engaging and sometimes humorous personalities, without going into clichéd extremes of the sinister, or of bogus sentimentality. You can see Muse trying to think his way out of the corner he and his band have painted themselves into, and you almost want to root for him. Almost.

The film greatly benefits from being filmed at sea (off Malta), aboard a sister ship of the real Alabama; you can practically smell the salt air, grease and rust. Less successful are pretty much all the scenes involving the Navy attempts at rescue; almost every military character comes off as a personality-free robot spouting not-entirely-authentic-sounding jargon. Lastly, while the outlines of the incident are followed fairly closely, there are clearly a few liberties taken with the timeline and facts (whether the vessel could have taken a different, more expensive route avoiding the Somali coast is somewhat glossed over), and I gather there is a bit more shooting portrayed in the film than actually occurred.

Anyway, I liked it a lot and despite the relatively minor flaws mentioned above, it’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year.

[Washoe]

That does sound good—I’m going to have to check that one out. Isn’t that the incident in which a military sniper took out one of the pirates with a million-to-one odds head shot?

[Equipoise]

I’ve asked a mod to add “Open Spoilers” to the subject line. We saw this last week at a sneak preview showing and while I did know it was based on a true story, unlike you, I knew nothing about the incident. It was an intense, white-knuckle ride. I’m sure it would have been even if I’d known all the details, but I’m glad I didn’t.

I liked that scene in the sick bay a lot. The doctor’s no-nonsense style, telling him what to do and asking him questions in a flat, emotionless (but not uncaring), slightly loud voice was exactly what he needed at that moment, to counteract his delayed-reaction shock. I’m guessing that kind of handling was pretty realistic.

A very good movie.

[Troutsqueezer]

I thought Gravity was good but this one blows it out of the water. No pun intended. Hanks will get the Oscar. All the actors were excellent. I liked the military scenes too.

[Ranger_Jeff]

I have a friend who is a merchant seaman. He’s a chief electrician. He knows some Maersk seamen. He says the Captain broke several policies that Maersk set up for what to do in those situations and if they press hadn’t made him into a hero they would have fired him.

[Equipoise]

@Equipoise

I liked that scene in the sick bay a lot. The doctor’s no-nonsense style, telling him what to do and asking him questions in a flat, emotionless (but not uncaring), slightly loud voice was exactly what he needed at that moment, to counteract his delayed-reaction shock. I’m guessing that kind of handling was pretty realistic.

I just read this story. That was a real Navy medic!

How a Real Life Navy Doc Was Drafted Into ‘Captain Phillips’ By Tom Hanks

It’s stressful enough working in the sickbay aboard a U.S. naval vessel without having to act opposite one of the world’s greatest thespians.

But at a moment’s notice, Navy Hospital Corpsman Danielle Albert had to do exactly that; to break from her medical duties to go toe-to-toe with Tom Hanks in the Oscar-bait final scene of “Captain Phillips.”

…

The scene may very well be the one that gets Oscar voters attention, but originally it wasn’t supposed to be in the movie at all.

“We stumbled upon it by accident, because it actually happened,” Hanks told Yahoo Movies in a phone interview. “The captain of the actual Bainbridge, the ship that was involved in the rescue of Phillips, said ‘Well, you know, I didn’t meet him till after he came out of the infirmary.’ And we didn’t even know that.” Thinking that over on the Truxtun, Paul [Greengrass] said, ‘Let’s go look at the infirmary.’ We went down, and we met the staff down there." After meeting Corpsman Albert, the filmmakers proposed they shoot just the scene then and there, as it really happened. “They were up for it,” says Hanks.

“While Tom was getting ready for that scene, I said to [Albert], ‘Just treat it like a regular military exercise,’” recalled Greengrass during a press conference. “It’ll be entirely routine – just it’ll be Tom Hanks.”

…

[El_Kabong]

@Equipoise

I’ve asked a mod to add “Open Spoilers” to the subject line.

Right, agreed; I’ve notified them as well. My apologies if anyone feels too much is revealed in the OP.

That tickles me that the Navy ship’s actual corpsman is in that scene with Hanks. It certainly enhances the sense of realism.

[kiz]

I vaguely remember reading about the actual hijacking, and I do want to see this film because of it.

I ran across an interview with the real Capt. Phillips where he said that he did return to work for Maersk the year after the hijacking (can’t cite it now, but it might have been on the NPR website). I thought that was cool, considering that most people, IMO, would have probably quit after such an ordeal.

[twickster]

I’ve added the spoilers warning.

[Jonathan_Chance]

@Troutsqueezer

Hanks will get the Oscar.

Gotta admit, this was my thought after I saw the trailer, “Oh, Hanks must want another Oscar for the display case.”

[Mighty_Girl]

@Ranger_Jeff

I have a friend who is a merchant seaman. He’s a chief electrician. He knows some Maersk seamen. He says the Captain broke several policies that Maersk set up for what to do in those situations and if they press hadn’t made him into a hero they would have fired him.

The husband holds the same job for the same company and has sailed in that area. You are right about Phillips breaking the protocol. I don’t know that he would have been fired, but he would have had the bosses thinking about it, at least. It helped that Phillips was American and that the American press quickly named him a hero. We were still very glad that things turned out relatively well.

My husband is disappointed that everybody ignores the many sailors held hostage for years and that nobody mentions. :mad:

[TreacherousCretin]

@Washoe

That does sound good—I’m going to have to check that one out. Isn’t that the incident in which a military sniper took out one of the pirates with a million-to-one odds head shot?

Haven’t seen the movie but saw a TeeVee documentary about it. My impression was that the military snipers (Seals? Rangers?) are VERY good marksmen and the remarkable aspect of “the shot” was that they had to wait a million seconds for the right moment. What amazed me was how long they remained frozen in “any second now” mode; I can’t imagine that kind of patience and stamina.

@Ranger_Jeff

I have a friend who is a merchant seaman. He’s a chief electrician. He knows some Maersk seamen. He says the Captain broke several policies that Maersk set up for what to do in those situations and if they press hadn’t made him into a hero they would have fired him.

I also read something to that effect.

[msmith537]

@Washoe

That does sound good—I’m going to have to check that one out. Isn’t that the incident in which a military sniper took out one of the pirates with a million-to-one odds head shot?

Maybe one in a million people could have made that shot. Fortunately they had three of them on the USS Bainbridge.

[El_Kabong]

@Mighty_Girl

You are right about Phillips breaking the protocol. I don’t know that he would have been fired, but he would have had the bosses thinking about it, at least.

Could you give an example? I’m curious.

[Mighty_Girl]

@El_Kabong

Could you give an example? I’m curious.

Don’t resist, do as they say. The ship is insured, the cargo is insured, his job was to keep everybody, including himself, alive. The company will pay the ransom to get the crew back safe. Not every Maersk ship can be rescued by the US navy, things could have turned out really bad. It almost did.

You may not agree with the protocol, but insofar as it return crews alive to their families, I am happy with it. We don’t want trigger-happy pirates that fear another stunt like that, and the company don’t want crews that refuse to sail in the area out of fear (sailors can refuse to go there without fear of repercussion, it’s the law in Denmark).

[El_Kabong]

@Mighty_Girl

You may not agree with the protocol, but insofar as it return crews alive to their families, I am happy with it.

Er, just to be clear, I wasn’t disagreeing with any of this, I was simply asking what the protocol was.

[Mighty_Girl]

@El_Kabong

Er, just to be clear, I wasn’t disagreeing with any of this, I was simply asking what the protocol was.

I meant “you” in the general sense. When this happened there was a thread where ill-informed people suggested a lot of nonsense (like arming crews), or against paying ransom.

[Zebra]

I loved the movie. I was amazed that like Apollo 13, you know the end but you’re still on the edge of your seat the entire time.

I really liked the portrayal of the pirates. Not sympathetic but not b&w either.

That scene in the infirmary is really quite cathartic.

[aldiboronti]

I haven’t seen the movie yet but I am intrigued by the very different version of events given by the crew, interviewed in the NY Post. The way they tell it the Captain wasn’t a hero at all but a fool and something of an asshole.

Capt. Richard Phillips, they say, is no hero, and the film is one big lie.
“Phillips wasn’t the big leader like he is in the movie,” says one crew member, who, for legal reasons, spoke with The Post anonymously. He worked very closely with Phillips on the Maersk Alabama and was alarmed by his behavior from the beginning. Phillips, he says, had a bad reputation for at least 12 years prior, known as a sullen and self-righteous captain.

“No one wants to sail with him,” he says.

Phillips has admitted that, on board, he got seven e-mails about increased piracy off Somalia — each exhorting ships to move farther offshore by at least 600 miles.

Phillips ignored every missive and later admitted he didn’t share these warnings — though they were not sent exclusively to him.

Even if true I wouldn’t let it spoil my enjoyment of the movie. I never believe Hollywood’s version of events anyway!

[Stephe96]

@Mighty_Girl

I meant “you” in the general sense. When this happened there was a thread where ill-informed people suggested a lot of nonsense (like arming crews), or against paying ransom.

Why would arming the crew be nonsense? The lack of even one firearm on the ship was a major post-movie discussion in my group.