{"id":518,"date":"2026-11-11T10:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T09:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogg.lnu.se\/adecolonialview\/?p=518"},"modified":"2026-11-11T10:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T09:36:23","slug":"film-review-pirate-hunting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogg.lnu.se\/adecolonialview\/blog\/blogg\/film-review-pirate-hunting\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: Pirate Hunting\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pirate Hunting<\/em> is a 2009 Norwegian documentary directed by \u00d8ystein Bogen. It is currently available for streaming on Netflix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While watching this film, one can easily draw parallels to the themes of exploitation, corporate colonialism, the accumulation of wealth and othering, all of which have been discussed in this programme\u2019s courses. While being thought-provoking and enlightening at times, it does however completely ignore the conflicts and wars which have plagued Somalia for a long time, causing political instability and poverty. It merely implies that there is a correlation between piracy and poverty, but it does not further explore that topic, which to me is a very questionable choice. With respect to the members of its cast, those being given the most screen time are all either from Norway or from the UK, rather than from Kenya or Somalia which would have been more interesting and contributed to a decolonisation of the subject. Consequently, this makes the film very Eurocentric as Europeans and non-Europeans are not given the same opportunity to make their voices heard. Its buildup ending in an anticlimax too was a huge letdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of this documentary centers around piracy in the Gulf of Aden, located in the Indian Ocean, through which freighters transporting goods from Asia to Europe and vice versa have to travel. When taking this route, however, the crews of these vessels are vulnerable to being ambushed by Somali pirates and taken as hostages, only to be released once a ransom is paid by their governments. The film explores the lucrative businesses which have emerged in Somalia and in the West as a consequence of this phenomenon. Those in Somalia emerged after many former fishermen turned to piracy in order to be able to provide for their families, having been driven out of markets by the trawlers of the West. While the leaders of these pirates profit from these large ransoms being paid to them, they also need them to pay off their debts. Insurance companies in the West have also earned a lot of money by offering these ship crews expensive and tailor-suited insurances, \u201cpiracy insurances\u201d, covering the costs of their transit via the Gulf of Aden. Private military contractors calling Operation Atalanta (the European Union\u2019s anti-piracy operation) inadequate have also made a lot of money. Their business idea is offering their clients armed protection, using their own navies and soldiers. Besides investigating these enterprises, the documentary examines the measures taken against these maritime crimes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I appreciate about the documentary is the interconnectedness of different perspectives in the story. Besides holding different nationalities, the cast has different professions and social positions. To begin with, there is the local perspective, represented by a Somali pirate leader living in the town of Eyl, whose perspective is sharply contrasted with that of the captain of the Norwegian Navy\u2019s frigate HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen, and that of the crew onboard a Norwegian cargo ship travelling through the Gulf of Aden. The legal dimensions of piracy are explored through interviews with a Somali human rights activist, a Kenyan judge, a Kenyan Member of Parliament, and a Kenyan lawyer. The inclusion of the Dutch commander of Operation Atalanta, an Italian investigative journalist, a London-based insurance company, a British lawyer, a British private security and insurance company, and Norwegian private military contractors in the cast opens up for questions about globalisation and capitalism. Lastly, the interview with the Ukrainian crew members who were held as hostages by pirates and their families highlights the human consequences of piracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories told by these individuals for instance allow the viewer to put themselves in a position of a person being held as a hostage by pirates. They also open up a discussion about how the problem should be properly solved, as the interviews with the three Kenyans clearly indicate that prosecuting, convicting and sentencing them is far from a sustainable solution. Furthermore, the information given by the human rights activist and the journalist demonstrate the complexity of the problem, i.e piracy being an act of desperation and these maritime operations not having the desired effect, as ships still are attacked in the area. The human rights activist and the private military contractors also heavily disagree on which solutions are optimal. The latter claim that more violence needs to be exerted against the pirates. The first objects to this, stating that such actions could lead to an escalation as the pirates have access to more destructive weapons. Weapons which they so far have abstained from using. Although, if they are provoked, they might have a change of heart.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I noticed that the director, \u00d8ystein Bogen, quite often used split screens as a technique in order to make transitions from one perspective to another. The pacing, i.e. how the scenes are connected to each other, was decent. I would argue that the first half of the film was better than the second one. The reason for that being that was more at stake in the first one and there was also a buildup for a satisfying climax, making that part more engaging and more suspenseful for me as a viewer. Despite this, there was no real payoff for that buildup and consequently it all fell flat, leaving me disappointed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I particularly liked the scenes featuring the insurance company in the UK, the private military contractors and the private security guards, and the Somali pirate leader. However, the director did not give these actors enough screen time, which the film would have benefited enormously from. In that way, more focus could have been put on the exploitative nature of large commercial fishing and its political consequences for Somalia, the motivations for Somali fishermen to become pirates when large corporations deprive them of their livelihood, and the reason why insurance companies and private military contractors are uninterested in solving the problem properly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of digging deeper and exploring these aspects more thoroughly, they are all just briefly touched on by the interviewees and the narrator while the Norwegian frigate captain and the cargo crew are given considerably more attention. While it makes sense for the filmmakers to do so as these interviewees are their countrymen, I still think it was an unwise decision, as I found both these actors quite boring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, I would not consider this film worth watching, as it merely scratches on the surface of the phenomenon. It had the potential and the opportunity to go deeper but unfortunately it preferred taking the short-cut instead.  If one is interested in learning more about this subject, I would therefore advise looking somewhere else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My rating: 2 stars out of 5. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elias Abrante, Gustavsberg, September 24th 2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pirate Hunting is a 2009 Norwegian documentary directed by \u00d8ystein Bogen. It is currently available for streaming on Netflix.  While watching this film, one can easily draw parallels to the themes of exploitation, corporate colonialism, the accumulation of wealth and othering, all of which have been discussed in this programme\u2019s courses. 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