[A disclaimer: Though I actually saw Captain Phillips at a hometown press screening, I thought I'd present it alongside the rest of the films I'm watching at the New York Film Festival since it was their opening night gala selection. It opens in theaters across the country Friday, October 11th.]
The 2009 hijacking of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates off the horn of Africa was destined to become a movie in some form or another. That Paul Greengrass, action director of the two most popular Bourne movies and United 93, got his hands on it before it was relegated to TV movie status is, I suppose, the better alternative. Based on the book A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips, the Alabama's captain, Captain Phillips is a knuckle-biter of a suspense film, depicting the siege in a way that still elicits fear and tension from events most of us know the outcome of. So now that we've established that I believe Captain Phillips is a well-executed nerve-jangling thriller, lets talk about its problematic politics, a subject which often arises when discussing Greengrass's films.
