Captain phillips somali pirates movie#

What Can Be Done about Piracy in Somalia and East Africa? As Somalia reconstructs and attracts more legitimate business investors, there may be less support for an activity that increases risk and negative perceptions of the business environment. However, this support has recently waned, hinting at the fact that communities are not really seeing the benefits of piracy. argues that piracy in Somalia in the past garnered public support because of the perception of its redistributive nature. Thus, the payout needs to cover pirate crew, the kingpin’s costs, and the original outlay, as well a high return to investors (investors typically claim at minimum 30 percent of the payout).

According to the United Nations, financiers of planned hijackings can buy shares of attempts, and the typical cost of an attempt is about $50,000 dollars. Pirate crews need to be nearly proportionate to crew members on the commercial vessels being hijacked so the split generally has to be divided between a lot of people. A band of pirates is usually headed by a kingpin who organizes the mother ship and negotiators, who have higher education and can command up to 5 percent of the payout.

As mentioned repeatedly in the film, the hijackers are rarely the sole profiteers from a hostage taking scenario. Ransoms have increased in value from under a million dollars on average per year in 2005 to an average payment of $5 million in 2011 (although the average dropped in 2012 to $4 million). Indeed, ransom payments are the main venture of real-life Somali pirates, unlike the small-scale robberies of the initial Somali piracy narrative.

Captain phillips somali pirates movie#

Thus, the movie presents a rather subtle and nuanced view of the current scenario for piracy in East Africa. In another instance, when asked by the titular Captain Phillips, played by Tom Hanks, the pirates respond rather sarcastically that of course they are all just fishermen. A sleepy eyed Muse, the captain of the pirates who board the Maersk Alabama (played by Somalia born actor Barkhad Abdi), is forced at gun point to assemble his pirate crew. At the beginning of the film, the pirates are roused from their village by men with guns who work for a kingpin. Idealistic as the Somali pirates may have been initially, it becomes clear in the movie that by 2009 the original piracy motivations no longer applied. In the movie, Muse also bemoans his lack of opportunities, and the pirates come across as young and desperate to succeed in getting a large ransom payment. A bulk of respondents listed themselves as unemployed or employed in informal business activities, such as khat sales and transportation. In a United Nations survey of 56 pirates, only 14 of them listed their former occupation as fisherman. Transnational Organized Crime East Africa Threat Assessment, the focus on commercial fishing vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin is actually on the decline, rather the focus is on commercial vessels from countries willing to pay out ransom. However, this narrative of fishermen turning to piracy because their waters are overexploited is often overstated and oversimplified. These fishermen originally demanded fines, working as the unofficial “Somali Coast Guard” (also referenced in the movie), from exploitative foreign commercial fishing vessels. The gist of the Somali pirate narrative alluded to in the movie is that the pirates are fisherman who got their start combating overfishing and polluting in their waters. While some media outlets have reported that the movie unfairly left out the background of the Somalis who are drawn into piracy, there are several allusions to a widely discussed Somali piracy narrative within the film. “Captain Phillips” is a Hollywood portrayal of the 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates off of the coast of Somalia. For those headed to the theaters this weekend, you should check out “ Captain Phillips” (which was rated highly by Rotten Tomatoes in case you need more than our opinions and take on the film).