The Pirates of Somalia

source: The Pirates of Somalia

The movie was very interesting, it is good to see "Captain Philips" first, but even without it you can see it again. It is a very good movie with very beautiful locations and excellent interpretations, mainly by Barkhad Abdi and Evan Peters. The fact that it is based on a book makes it even more attractive. I highly recommend it.

Biographies and movies based on true events will always draw my attention especially when the theme has an interesting story or is about a person that accomplished something not everybody else would or could do. In this case it's about the first Westener that showed any interest in Somalia and their problems, and that had balls big enough to risk his life almost daily. Evan Peters did a good job playing this character, one of his better roles. Good job from Barkhad Abdi also. The bigger names in this movie barely appeared in the story so not much to write about them. Interesting story with some good acting.

Entertaining throughout and littered with fun Canadianisms that I appreciated, but overall not much really happens, at least not the sort of thing movie goers would expect from a movie like this. It's not boring, it just doesn't have the usual bombastic stuff a lot of Hollywood movies do. It's based on a true story, but it's also quite funny at times. I never even heard of this movie until I went looking for things to extend my mini-Pacino-marathon. Here, Pacino is having fun in a supporting role, and it shows.

This is a nice movie.. It's not pretentious. It's more about self-realization, and interactions with people.. The movie is very well cast, and dialog well constructed. There are several supporting roles, which are quite interesting. The thing about this movie I really liked and it really doesn't happen that much anymore, Is that I felt like I got to know the characters, and I cared and liked them. They each are working their way thru their own issues, which are not really the focus of the movie (or is it?) I do wish they explored the parents more, especially Melonie Griffith. It could have added even more to this gem. Too many movies these day are just lame. Or they try and clobber you over the head, with visuals, super-powers, end of the world threats. This movie is entertaining, but also has points to think about it. It made me go and read up about Somalia, which has an amazing story to it's very long existence. In short, this movie, entertained, informed, and made me think about things. something so rarely accomplished anymore.

This based-on-facts movie looks like it's going to be a trashy, violence-filled tale of mayhem, but it turns out to be something quite different, and much better.. It tells the story of Jay Bahadur (played by Evan Peters), a young Canadian who wanted to be a journalist. A chance meeting with a journalist whose writings he greatly admired (a fictitious composite played by Al Pacino) persuaded him that rather than going to journalism school, he should go somewhere dangerous and write about it. He went to Somalia, a country he had researched for a paper he had written in college, and found opportunities to interview the Somalian pirates, which no Westerner had ever done. It's an exciting story, well told, well acted, and believable. The Somalians in particular are portrayed as three-dimensional characters rather than simply as savages (as they are often portrayed in the media). Yet brutality and ruthlessness are present in their everyday lives as well. Action, suspense, friendship, courage, humor, this movie has it all. What it does not have, unfortunately, is captioning. Much of the dialogue is difficult to catch, especially the English spoken by the Somalians with their strong African accent. This is a rather serious flaw impairing the enjoyment of an otherwise excellent movie.

Highly recommend this, it has great story telling and acting, there are also some really funny scenes. Hard to believe there wasn't more hype for this movie, but it kind of goes with the theme in the movie about the world not really caring about what goes on in Somalia, I guess it's true.

Had no idea about Somalia, until I saw this movie. Well done!

Inspiration often finds its way through real-life events. The problem of Somali pirates plaguing the waters of Africa, the Indian Ocean and its surrounding arms extending to the Mid-east has been the source of inspiration for various Hollywood dramas. Each movie speaks its own tale, highlighting the troublesome nature of the maritime zone that has been a cause of worry for the entire global shipping domain. Most of these Somali pirates movies are based on incidents that have taken place in people's lives. Some movies even have had real-life characters acting their part highjackingwithin it. These aspects have thus made these pirate movies far more impactful with the audiences not only understanding the relevance of the subject but also correlating its significance.

I wish I could write a better review of The Pirates Of Somalia. That is certainly one troubled land for the past 30 or so years. When the action of this film takes place in 2008 it was hardly even a country, a geographical expression at best. Years ago when Lebanon was in a similar state and to some extent still is I read that President Gemayel controlled maybe 10 blocks square around the presidential palace in Beirut. That about sums up the situation in Somalia with different warlords controlling a piece of turf over a country a lot bigger than Lebanon. Doing a paper on Somalia at the University of Toronto, young Jay Bahadur played here by Evan Peters wants a journalistic career and seeks the advice of a legendary reporter. Playing said reporter Al Pacino basically says seek out a subject and write. Make sure it's something no one else has already covered to death. Being a country with a nice long sea coast, any number of these Somalian warlords have gone into piracy for profit. At the same time that Bahadur was gathering material for his Somalia story, the world watched as some of these pirates took Captain Phillips hostage. Sad to say that the nature of that story a spine tingling adventure sort of wrote itself for the screen with Tom Hanks giving an acclaimed performance. I wish that this one had been juiced up a bit or at least 20 to 30 minutes had been cut out. The pace of The Pirates Of Somalia is agonizingly slow at times. Al Pacino really stands out. No doubt put it the film for a little box office juice, he also picks up the pace with a quirky performance. He's in at the beginning and toward the end. I wish we could have worked him in more. The Pirates Of Somalia is a story that needed telling. But fortify yourself with a bit of caffeine before watching.