“We can’t rush these people. Time is a Western thing. It means nothing to them.”

Connor Julian

Having already seen A War, I had a good idea of the raw realism to expect from Tobias Lindholm’s previous film, in which the small crew of a Danish cargo ship are captured by Somali pirates, but I still found myself unprepared for the relentless tension. A Hijacking unfolds at pace, and the sense of time becomes lost with frequent time jumps through a crisis that spans several months. We experience events largely from the perspectives of two people: the ship’s cook who unwillingly becomes the go-between with his captors; and the company CEO back home, struggling with the weight of negotiating a hostage release, yet unwilling to divest the responsibility. This allows us to understand the matter-of-fact strategic advice provided by the company’s expert advisor balanced against the crew’s increasing sense of abandonment. Of particular note is the strange camaraderie that grows between the crew and their captors as both groups are essentially stranded together at sea, hoping for the same resolution.

8/10