CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

This is a true story that took place in 2009 .  Tom Hanks portrays the commanding officer Captain Phillip, an ordinary man who lives in Vermont and is about to board a flight to East Africa where he will pilot a container ship.

The ship is on course and approaching the coast of Somali where international robbers on the high seas is prevalent.  The people of Somali were dependent on fishing until the waters became polluted by ships coming through dumping chemical wastes and killing off their only means of income, fishing.  Somali became poverty stricken and a civil war disbanded their navy.  They turned to kidnapping and piracy for high ransoms.  The captain was told to stay a certain distance from the coastline of Somali but did not adhere to that order, his desire was to save money on fuel.

Four teenage Somalis , in a small motor boat, are seen approaching the ship.  The ship does not have enough speed to escape or the right to bear arms in hostile waters.  They attempt to fight off the Somalis with water hoses, their only method of defense, to no avail.

Captain Phillips hides the crew in the engine room trying to save them but has to deal with his  capture.  The energy between the captain and the Somali leader "Muse" is  exceptional.  Muse
is trying to influence the captain to disclose where the crew is hiding and commanding them to surrender, a lot of suspense and anxiety going on. 

It is a long harrowing experience, the U S Navy and Seals are summoned and attempt to take over, they convinced  the kidnappers to release one of their crew to negotiate a settlement.  The others are to be released to a lifeboat that will take them home.  They take Captain Phillips along with them in the lifeboat as a hostage, it is a long drawn out process of man (at a disadvantage) against pirates with guns in a confined lifeboat bobbing around in the Indian Ocean.

The Navy and the Seals do their part in a dramatic rescue operation that you will long remember.
Tom Hanks made the part of Captain Phillips believable and the young Somalis could not have been better cast.  Some awards may be forthcoming for this one.