Daniel Gardner & Miguel Rodriguez Luna
Flash Prose #3
March 8, 2015
Everything was going as planned on the mild morning of March 23, 2009 as Captain
Richard Phillips was leaving for the airport with his wife Andrea. The changing times and fast
pace of the world were topics of conversation for the couple as they worried about their
children and how they would fare in a world that becoming more and more dangerous.
Meanwhile, on the coast of Somalia, a ragtag group of pirates are gearing up for a hijacking on
the high seas. As Phillips arrives at port and takes command of MV Maersk Alabama, neither
the pirates nor the captain know that they will soon cross paths in the worst way possible.
Phillips was aware of the pirate activity going on off the coast of Somalia, and
immediately ordered that all doors and hatches be locked upon entering the ship. They finish
loading their cargo and set sail for their destination, a route which requires them to pass
through a rather dangerous part of ocean near Somalia. During their route, they break apart
from the convoy of ships nearby, making them an easy target. The pirates see this on their
radar and begin closing in. Upon seeing the two skiffs getting dangerously close to the Alabama,
Phillips goes outside to take a look through his binoculars and realizes that he and his crew may
be in trouble. He alerts maritime radio and they advise him to lock down the ship and get the
hoses ready. The pirates get closer and eventually find a weak spot in the firefighting hose
defense and use their homemade raggedy ladder to pile onboard. As Phillips orders his crew to
hide in the engine room and lock down the hatches, the pirates come storming in. Led by a man
called Muse, they inquire Phillips about the ship and are ecstatic when they find out it is from
America. Phillips offers the men $30,000 in cash if they agree to leave without hurting anyone,
but they refuse, saying they want millions. After the pirates search the ship and one of them
receives a badly injured foot courtesy of the Alabama crew, they order Phillips to get the
$30,000 from the safe and show them how to detach the lifeboat so they could escape.
Complying with their AK-47’s, Phillips gets in the lifeboat to prepare it for them, when he is
suddenly knocked into the boat and taken away from the ship.
This was now a hostage situation, time being of the essence. After a nearly fatal escape
attempt from the life boat, the pirates are being commanded to give up. Naturally they refuse,
even with a Navy Seal Team only a few hundred yards from them armed to the teeth. Muse is
losing patience and orders that Phillips be shot if he continues to move around. Realizing time
may be running short; the Navy Seal Team Commander issues an execution once all three
pirates are clearly visible through the windows of the life boat. Phillips thinks only of his wife
and family, apologizing for being in this situation instead of home safe with them. Time is
running out, and once the third pirate stumbles into sniper view the order to execute is carried
out in a fraction of a second. Blood splatters all over the screaming captain. What follows is an
eerie silence along with the ringing white-light sensation of Phillips in shock. He cannot believe
his ordeal is now over.
Captain Phillips was reunited with his family on April 17, 2009, while Muse was charged
with piracy and is serving thirty-three years in federal prison. Though Captain Phillips will never
forget what happened to him on that fateful voyage, he continues to go to sea to this day.
Paul Greengrass, the director of Captain Phillips, does a great job relating the real life events
that took place and incorporating as much as he could into the movie. Richard Phillips, who is
played by Tom Hanks, has a lot of good things to say about the movie and how it was directed.
In an interview with Huffington Post, Richard acknowledges that there were certain scenes in
the movie that were either portrayed more intense or less intense than it actually was. He also
mentioned that it was difficult for him to watch directors and actors filming the movie because
he didn't want to get too involved. At the same time however, he did want to leave the
professionals who have done this before to do their job on their own. One thing that Richard
really liked about the movie was how the pirates who took over the ship were portrayed as
humans. Specifically how in the beginning, they showed a little bit into the life of Somalians and
how their living situations are. Although the pirates did what they did, Richard recalled a time in
the small lifeboat when it was him and the four pirates where they talked, and laughed
together. He went on to say that when you put five people in a small place like the life boat for
five days, you build relationships. That’s one of the biggest features that Richard Phillips really
enjoyed about watching the movie for himself. One thing that he didn't agree with about the
movie was the name itself of the movie. Richard Phillips says that it wasn't just him in the ship,
and that is why he doesn't understand why the movie is called Captain Phillips when there were
other shipmen that were there as well. They all worked together to try get the pirates out the
ship, and they were all in the ship when the pirates got on the ship. For Richard, he felt that his
shipmen deserved a little more credit in the movie and maybe a little more sympathy. Needless
to say, not all shipmen involved were too fond of the movie.
Trying to make a movie of a real life event is very difficult. Paul Greengrass has directed
movies before of real life events that get a lot of attention. One in particular that got a lot of
criticism was the movie United 93, which followed events of a hijacked plane in the 9/11
attacks. Being such a worldwide event that broke news all around the world, criticism is only
bound to happen. With Maersk Alabama however, the ship that was hijacked, which was also
big news at the time was not as worldwide big news. When you get events like that, and with
an ending like the one in Captain Phillips, people tend to respond in a different way. When
viewers finished watching this movie, many felt the sympathy and even tension and
anxiousness that Richard Phillips might have felt at the time. Reviews on the movie were great.
Many people enjoyed how the film showed both sides of the event. The direction and
execution of this film have garnered approval from Captain Richards himself, and that is truly an
accomplishment.