Movie Review

Submitted by:
Group 3
Anuj Shukla
Aparna Das
Ashish Sasidharan
Ashutosh Kumar Singh

Brief Storyline

Captain Phillips movie is a 2013 based American biographical drama and thriller film
directed by Paul Greengrass, starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi. The film is
inspired by the true story of 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking case. In 2009, the U.S.
containership Maersk Alabama sails toward its destination on a day that seems like
any other day. Suddenly, Somali pirates attacked the ship and take everyone
hostage. The captain of the ship, Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), looks to protect his
crew members from the hostile invaders, and from their leader, Muse (Barkhad
Abdi). The pirates are looking for money, and Phillips must use his wits to make sure
everyone survives and returns home safely. After a difficult standoff between the
pirates and the military, Navy Seal snipers killed the pirates and rescued Captain
Phillips.

Leadership Lessons

Captain Phillips, while tackling the emergency situation, exhibited a good example by
maintaining his own sense of confidence and controlled his behavior and proved,
that as a leader, we need to be ready, to succeed even in the difficult conditions.
Captain Phillips shows himself as a competent, responsible, selfless, servant leader
who puts himself in danger in order to save the life of his crew members. Some of
the key lessons learned after watching the movie are:

a) You don’t have to be friends with your crew, but you have to earn their
trust- Following the incident, there has been legal wrangling between some of
the crew and the company that owns the ship. What we learned from all this is
that, Captain was a tough and demanding leader. The unarmed container ship
was steaming through a warzone, and the ship’s leader had to make

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 challenging decisions. Someone had to be in charge. When the Somali’s
pirates attacked, it is clear that during the crisis the captain had his crew’s
trust and they followed his orders.

b) Your job as a leader is to anticipate- Captain Phillips not only had the
challenge of balancing his company’s delivery demands with the safety of his
boat and crew, he also had to deal with how close he can navigate the coast
and stay out of reach of pirates. As Captain, he had to anticipate the worst,
and make sure that his crew was prepared for it. Because of the water, he
had the crew perform several unannounced safety drills. The minute the
pirates were detected on radar, his crew knew what to do if attacked.

c) The leader’s behaviors influence how others act- This involves more than
a leader setting a good example. In Captain Phillip’s case, he had to show
confidence to his crew members and defiance to his captors. After Somali
pirates seized the ship, the crew had to work without a playbook. Through
radio transmissions and the Captain’s own acts, the team witnessed their
leader’s spirit of confidence, and assumed that same spirit in making their
own decisions.

d) Stay strong- These skills are critical to leaders and in the movie, ‘Captain
Phillips”, it is clearly shown that he is a good example of true leader and also
a hero in real life.

Conclusion

Leadership is a process of social influence in which one-person support

others in the accomplishment of common task. Captain Phillips appears to be
very serious, strict and reserved man. He is a real-life leader. He makes
immediate decisions and unites with crew members. He is optimistic and
encourages his team members. He knew the situation of attack and his crew
followed his orders. He was able to see things accurately and from different
point of views which is the important skills of a leaders. Even in most
dangerous and unexpected situations as a true leader he remained calm, took

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initiative and made strategies to handle the emergency situations. With his
immediate decisions he exhibited high responsibility of his profession and
protected his crew members. Thus, he is a good example of a true leader and
hero in real life situation.