A Hijacking (2012)

That was an excellent one.

Excellent adaptation.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film is called " A Hijacking" because "Boring Negotiations" doesn't sell. The production has won numerous awards as the film is a billed as a psychological drama/thriller, easy on the thriller part. You don't get to see the actual hijacking, or for that matter any real action. The film moved from one boring talking scene to the next. Once the ship was hijacked, the parent company for some reason entered into long drawn out negotiations rather than simply allow the insurance company to make the payment and get the crew home as they typically do.Søren Malling played the CEO who is torn between saving the crew and saving a dollar. This sets up as a metaphor for the worker's struggle against management. I would agree that the film was well done. Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity. Urination scenes.Film uses English subtitles when English is not spoken.

I was initially not interested in watching the film as I saw it on BBC iPlayer for the week, but completed it.This film is brilliant and the director knows how to create beautiful scenes that leave the user sympathising for the characters. I was unable to take my eyes away and the ending left me longing for more.Let the language barrier not fool you as English subtitles will be your full knight in shining armour throughout the film. You will enjoy this film and really give it a try.

Taking a look on Ebay during the Christmas holidays for any good deals,I spotted a Nordic Noir title being sold for £1 (with no bids) with free postage! Since hearing about the title when the similarly themed Captain Phillips came out,I got set for a hijacking to take place.The plot:As the ship gets close to its destination,crew member Mikkel Hartmann starts to think about seeing his wife and daughter again for the first time in months.Before Hartmann and the crew have a chance to see land,a group of pirates get aboard the ship and hijack it. Learning that the pirates have taken control of the ship,the ship's owner Peter Ludvigsen begins attempting to negotiate with the pirates,as Hartmann and the rest of the crew start to find their hope of ever seeing land again to drift away.View on the film:Filmed on an actual ship in the Indian Ocean,writer/director Tobias Lindholm & cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck lock the crew and pirates down in a hellish Film Noir pit,as Lindholm's stiff,hand- held tracking shots superbly explore the decaying, claustrophobic wasteland that they are all being held in.Making the negotiation take place miles away, Lindholm gives the scenes away from the ship a stylishly pristine appearance,as the sharp suits and slick metallic walls show everything that the crew have sailed away from.Spanning a brittle 99 minute running time,the screenplay by Lindholm smartly makes sure the title never feels like Hartmann is alone at sea,thanks to giving each of the crew and pirates rough outlines which along with unveiling the comradeship that the crew share,also uncovers the blunt attitude the pirates have to their "cargo." Despite having a swift running time,Lindholm makes the agonisingly long passage of time for the hostage situation be whipped across the entire movie,as every attempt Hartmann and the crew make to bond with the pirates leads to them being struck with a ruthless hit.Going back and forth between the CEO and the pirates,Lindholm threads a deliciously dark comparison between the similarities shared between big business and the pirates,thanks to pirates negotiator Omar (played by a terrifically restrained Abdihakin Asgar) and CEO Peter C. Ludvigsen (played by a slippery Søren Malling) each being more interested in their power-play then ending the hostage situation quickly. Initially appearing to offer some light at the end,Lindholm instead takes the film into a harsh Nordic Noir final shot,as Hartmann (played by a wonderfully burnt out Pilou Asbæk) finds all his hopes to have been hijacked.

With the big budget film Captain Phillips arriving in the UK recently it reminded me that I had this much smaller film sitting unwatched in my queue. I don't know the details of Greengrass' film, but I presume the basic principle is the same as this film, which sees Somali pirates take over a Danish cargo ship and demand millions of US dollars for its release. The drama in this case unfolds in the boardroom of the company (focused on CEO Ludvigsen) and on the ship (focused on cook Mikkel).The film puts an emphasis on realism in how it delivers the story to the viewer; conference calls between the CEO and the pirates are filmed as conference calls (complete with time lag and echo) and the expert in maritime security that the fictional company brings in is indeed not an actor but someone who does this for a living for a shipping company. It helps that this sense of realism is so deeply embedded in the techniques because it does make the film work very well in terms of tension. This isn't Under Siege where the cook takes on the hijackers, nor is it a film where the dramatic score does the heavy lifting – if anything the film sits back and lets the people just be in this situation. As a result it is a more toned back film in regard to the delivery but it works well to make everything feel tense and unpredictable – the calls are as gripping as the scenes of imminent personal danger on the ship.The cast are a big part of this. At first I was concerned that I would not be able to get into the actors since so many were familiar faces to me from Forbrydelsen, Borgen, Game of Thrones and some other shows. As it was though I didn't struggle at all because everyone plays their characters so well that I forgot they were ever anyone else. Malling was the biggest jump for me as he is very different here than when I have seen him before, but he does it very well, letting the cracks show but never overdoing it for a specific scene. Asbaek has the toughest role as it is full of danger and emotion and he convinces throughout, sharing his frustration and fear with the viewer. Supporting roles are generally good with Salim, Moller and others doing good. I particularly liked Porter; occasionally he is a little clunky when working with the actors as a performance, but generally when he is in "the room" where he works in real life then he is a great presence and again really helps the sense of realism.Kapringen maybe doesn't have the large budget or production aims of a bigger film, but the focus on realism in the making of the film pays off to produce a story that is tense and engaging throughout. Well worth a look.