A new docudrama set to premiere on the Discovery Channel calls into question a popular narrative in the April high-seas showdown between the Maersk Alabama, Somali pirates and the U.S. Navy.
“Somali Pirate Takedown: The Real Story” challenges the notion that captain Richard Phillips willingly exchanged himself for the lives of his crew. Instead, producers frame the scene as a failed hostage swap.
Die Hard: Cargo crew style
Leading up to the pivotal moment, producers use a mash up of exclusive interviews, dramatic re-enactments and melodramatic music to walk viewers through the capture of the massive cargo ship by four gun-toting Somalis.
In a preview screening made available to Military Times, third mate Collin Wright describes scrambling to call the Navy command center in Bahrain as the attack ensues. “I tell the man on the phone we’ve just been boarded by pirates. He said, ‘Oh s---.’ “
Phillips is taken captive on the bridge, but most of the remaining unarmed, 20-man crew lurks below deck, taking over steering of the vessel from a secret compartment in the engine room, swamping the pirates’ attack boat, cutting power to the ship and eventually capturing the leader of their captors at knife point.
With the tables turned, the remaining pirates begin to panic.
Exit strategy“
I think captain Phillips is able to suggest to them an exit strategy they find to their advantage,” second engineer Richard Matthews tells viewers.
The plan: exchange Phillips for the captured pirate and allow the gunmen to make a clean getaway in one of the ship’s lifeboats.
“Then suddenly, the plan begins to unravel. The pirates lure captain Phillips onto the lifeboat,” the narrator says. “The pirates have the captain at gunpoint. Before the crew can figure out what happened, it’s too late ... the hostage swap has gone bad.”
According to producers, Phillips got on the boat to show the pirates how to operate it, the pirate leader followed him aboard, and Phillips didn’t get off.
“Those are the facts as we know them from the crew,” says executive producer Christo Doyle. “Only captain Phillips knows exactly what happened, but from the crew’s perspective, it was a totally failed hostage swap.”
Missing players
Although the documentary includes original interviews with five of the ship’s crew, Phillips declined to participate. His book on the ordeal is due out next year, and movie rights to his story have been bought by Columbia Pictures.
Alison McColl, a spokesperson for Phillips, however, didn’t challenge the documentary’s take.
“In the media, this was played out as some dramatic moment where he laid his life down for the crew. He’s never said that,” McColl says. “His main objective was to protect his crew and protect his ship,” she said, but confirmed he never volunteered to go with the pirates.
Also notably absent from the documentary are the three SEALs who simultaneously delivered the three-shot, three-kill takedown from the swaying deck of the destroyer Bainbridge.
“There’s a code with SEALs that I find very admirable,” Doyle says. “They do not ask to be thanked or to even [let others] know who they are.”
Two admirals, however, provide commentary, including insight into the variety of measures commanders employed to try and resolve the situation peacefully.
Model of courage
For his part, Phillips repeatedly pushed praise to the SEALs, and the military at large, in the media frenzy following his rescue.
“They’re the superheroes; they’re the titans,” Philips told reporters shortly after his release. “I’m just a bit part in this story.”
Others, however, heaped praise on the cargo ship skipper.
“I share the country’s admiration for the bravery of captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew,” President Obama said after his release. “His courage is a model for all Americans.”
But it’s the courage of the crew that will surprise people, Doyle says.
“It’s the story within the story: The men of the Maersk are truly unsung heroes. They decided early on that they were going to fight back; it’s absolutely riveting,” he says.
“Somali Pirate Takedown” premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday on Discovery Channel. An extended version premieres at 9 p.m. June 23 on the Military Channel.
Source: ArmyTimes.com
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