A Hijacking
★★★★★
Dir: Tobias Lindholm
(2013)
Tobias Lindholm has already delivered one incredible piece of work this year, helping out Thomas Vinterberg in penning the rather excellent The Hunt. That slow burning film, taught with uncertainty and wonderfully handed by Vinterberg in the directors chair, is now neck and neck with Lindholm's own brilliant slow burning exercise in tension with the equally intense A Hijacking; This story of a rusted cargo ship which is boarded by Somali pirates and the cold business like negotiations performed by the company's CEO is certainly one of the years best films.
Escaping the trappings of a hollywood style hijack and ransom plot he plays the film almost like a two room play, often discarding elements which many other mainstream directors and producers for that matter would need to see, the hijacking included. Before we know it the film and the situation is playing out in weeks and months rather that minutes and hours. In steeling Pilou Asbaek and Søren Malling from his own TV series Borgen to play the ships cook Mikkel and Peter the head of the company respectively, Lindholm makes sure he gets confident, quiet and assured performances from both.
We're also introduced to Omar (Abdihakin Asgar) who acts as negotiator between the hijackers and Peter with the poise of a man who has done this many times before, never wanting to be included in the same breath as the men he is working with. The strain onboard is equalled by the strain on the strong-willed boss of the company whose life is consumed by the guilt of the situation and the million dollar business with which he is embroiled. The families are dealt with in the same by the book fashion as the companies investors are and Lindholm's fantastic script walks the line between money and morality expertly.
As the months pile up and the beards on the stranded ship grow long, food becomes short but Lindholm's restraint and pacing with A Hijacking becomes a marvel; It's an undeniably tense, moving and exciting piece of work which begs to be seen and he almost does it all without firing a shot. Lets see how Paul Greengrass handles an almost identical situation with his Captain Phillips later this year.
