Filmed on the open seas and psychologically savvy, Captain Phillips should be required viewing for anyone involved in combating Somali piracy, says counter-piracy expert Gerry Northwood
I've met a few Somali pirates: we arrested 35 when I was working in the Gulf of Aden from 2011 to 2012. As a captain in the Royal Navy, I was in charge of an anti-piracy task group – and I saw the same excitability and lack of rationality that we see in the characters in this film. They're often caught between a rock and a hard place: just like in the movie, their bosses may well have told them not to bother coming back alive unless it's with a valuable ransom. There's a lot of machismo about the way they behave, a lot of peer pressure.
I remember the incident this film is based on: the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, an American cargo ship, in 2009. The US Navy took charge of freeing the hostages, but we were all watching closely. The director, Paul Greengrass, has no doubt taken a degree of artistic licence with the story, but it feels like a fair representation. I think it should be required viewing for anyone involved in combatting Somali piracy.
Apparently, it was filmed at sea, using real ships: we get a brilliant sense of what it was actually like for the crew to be so far away from land in such a situation. However, it's much more difficult for pirates to board a ship nowadays: the Alabama had no security team, which would be unusual today.
I now work for a maritime security firm, and our guards usually don't have to use their weapons: just being there is enough to keep the Somalis off. Unlike the Alabama, most ships now have "citadels", too: fortified areas in the ship's engine room. I orchestrated the rescue of the MV Montecristo, an Italian ship, from Somali pirates: the crew all managed to get inside the citadel before the pirates boarded.
The film is very timely: there is often a spike in piracy at this time of year, when the Indian Ocean is calm. We saw Somalis attempt to take a ship just a few days ago. The film is an important reminder that the issue of Somali piracy has been suppressed rather than eradicated. If ships start to drop their guard, the pirates will be back.
• Gerry Northwood works for GoAGT. Captain Phillips is out now.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/oct/27/piracy-expert-view-captain-phillips
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