serves as an allegory for world conflict
Paul Greengrass continues his run as the best action director of movies that are either based on actual events or feel as if they could be. His Bourne movies felt like an update of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books, not the glamorous
superhero he became in the movies. United 93 imagined what happened during that historic and tragic flight from final phone conversations.
Captain Phillips is based on Richard Phillips’ book about the events of April 9 – 12, 2009, when Somali pirates overtook the merchant ship Alabama Maersk.
superhero he became in the movies. United 93 imagined what happened during that historic and tragic flight from final phone conversations.
Captain Phillips is based on Richard Phillips’ book about the events of April 9 – 12, 2009, when Somali pirates overtook the merchant ship Alabama Maersk.
Although there is a current court case concerning the veracity of Phillips’ account, the movie treats it as factual and this is necessary to mesh with Greengrass’s style. His use of hand-held cameras is second to none. He achieves the sense that this is a documentary, even though the viewer knows it is nothing of the kind, because of the off-kilter camera, the very ‘real’ looking sets that have been intricately designed and cleverly lit so that they appear natural, and actors that behave with understatement even in the moments of highest tension. The casting mixes stars with wonderful journeymen performers like Chris Mulkey, Yul Vasquez, and Max Martini, and the newcomers playing the pirates.
Tom Hanks Confronting Barkhad Abdi |
Dexter Watches as the Somali Pirates Board the Ship |
However, this issue is the tip of the iceberg of the greater one of the global conflict between haves and have-nots and the northern versus southern hemispheres – a growing concern based on economics than the historic east versus western hemispheres based upon political philosophy. After all,
philosophy can only be engendered by the educated middle-class that doesn’t have to consider hunger as a chronic condition.
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