Plot
The crew of a Danish cargo ship is hijacked by Somali pirates who proceed to engage in escalating negotiations with authorities in Copenhagen.

Release Year: 2012

Rating: 7.0/10 (1,768 voted)

Director: Tobias Lindholm

Storyline
The cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbor when it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship's cook Mikkel and the engineer Jan, who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company and the Somali pirates.

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Language: , ,

Release Date:

Runtime: 99 min

Trivia:
To make the phone call scenes between Søren Malling and Pilou Asbæk appear authentic on film, director Tobias Lindholm filmed those scenes as actual conference calls with Malling being in Denmark and Asbæk being in Somalia. See more »

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Rating: 7/10

A fine realistic- almost documentary- examination of the hijacking of a Danish-owned freighter by Somali pirates. The two central characters are the ship's cook and the company's C.E.O., who negotiates the crew's release after over four months. There is an almost obsessive concern for realism- the scenes with the crew and the pirates were filmed on a real freighter- which had itself once been hijacked- off the coast of Somalia; the offices of a real shipping company were used; the hostage negotiator used as a consultant plays the part of a hostage negotiator. There are only two lapses from exact realism: the C.E.O. rejects the consultant's advice to recruit an outside negotiator. This makes for more drama at the expense of realism, but we have just seen him negotiate a deal that looked impossible with a Japanese company and- coolly impassive though he is- we can accept he is triumphant and thinks he is the best man for the job. Much of the film is a study of this man's moral education and moral courage as he learns to take others' advice, comes close to psychological collapse and finally triumphs, only to have his triumph destroyed by chance. Even then, he accepts his duty to take responsibility for what has happened, even if it is out of his control. The other lapse from realism is probably the result of the cinematic demand that something has to happen, even in a film where triumph consists of making sure nothing happens. The film takes place almost entirely in confined spaces- the company's offices, in the ship's cabins or cargo deck with occasional glimpses of the outside sea and the sky. There are a couple of moments where pirates and hostages almost meet as equals- when the crew are allowed on deck and catch a fish which inspires a feast for all of them- but for most of the film the pirates are potentially murderous 'others' who inspire only fear and hatred. Even their own English-speaking negotiator, for all his claims not to be a pirate like the others, reveals his own duplicity.

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