The Pirates of Somalia

The Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips brought the issue of piracy and hijackings of cargo ships on the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa into the public eye. This dramedy delves deeper into the culture of Somalia and its precarious democracy. Tired of being rejected by leading magazines, wannabe Canadian journalist Jay Bahadur (Evan Peters) relishes a chance encounter with his idol, newspaperman Seymour Tobin (Al Pacino), who urges him to find a crazy, compelling story and pursue it. Having written a term paper on Somalia, Bahadur borrows money from his mother (Melanie Griffith) to travel to the country, where he hopes to meet with its newly-elected president about the complex socioeconomics of this region that was once known as a "land of poets" where people resolved their disputes with language. At the airport, Bahadur is met by translator Abdi (Barkhad Abdi, Oscar-nominated for Captain Phillips), who advises him not to accept CBS News’s offer of $1,000 for hostage footage from a ship captured by Somali pirates. So Bahadur schedules interviews with Somali bigwigs, all of whom expect to be bribed with the local drug khat, a chewable narcotic easily purchased in the open marketplace. Since Bahadur’s a stoner, he understands this well. Unfortunately, as portrayed by Peters, Bahadur is an annoying wiseass, even though he does eventually become an acknowledged authority on Somalia. Based on the real Jay Bahadur’s 2011 nonfiction book The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World, this debut feature by filmmaker Bryan Buckley suffers from simplistic subplots and superfluous characters. Optional. (S. Granger)