Aug 1, 2013 Film & TV
Directed by Tobias Lindholm
Denmark
Ever feel your boss has too much power over your life? Try being stuck on a freighter in the Indian Ocean when Somali pirates board. A Hijacking centres on the ship’s cook, Mikkel, who just wants to get back home to his wife and young daughter, but his fate lies in the hands of the charismatic pirate negotiator and the boss of a shipping company at the end of the phone in a crisp office in Copenhagen. The days tick by, the stakes rise, and cold harsh cash is the chilling centrepiece as pirates and corporates haggle over the captives’ lives.
Shown with pared-back realism, reminiscent of the Dogme filmmaking, it’s taut and unvarnished, giving the sense of really being caught in that horrible limbo — for the captive, pirate and desperate shipping company CEO alike.
Tom Hanks has a blockbuster version of a similar plot coming out soon. Skip that display of American histrionics and see this one while you can.
