Good Western interviews and recordings, but unfortunately a lot of very factually wrong claims are made here.
Let's go over the main issue first. They interview a millionaire pirate leader and a Somali human rights activists. Both have some weird unexplained theory to explain the Somali piracy. Apparently these people used to fish and then American, European and Asian fighting boats came into their sea and emptied it meaning that the Somali had no way to sustain themselves and were forced to become pirates. For some reason the narrator just goes along with this weird theory without questioning it. It's of course completely false. I'm not even sure how they even created this conspiracy theory. They want to make Somalia out to be a victim of Western imperialism or something? Somalia was never a fishing nation. They should have been if they had any intelligence as a nation as it's a cheap food source, but they just never practising fishing on a large scale. Probably because it's a technical business. Then Western fishing ships don't just steal fish from random seas. And Somalia is catching MORE fish now than ever before, not less. The pirate leader in the documentary tells the documentary crew that his father died at sea while being run over by a foreign fishing boat. It's never made clear how he could possibly know it was foreign. And can he prove any part of this story? It's not even clear if he used to be a fisher or if he's lying about this. He's a criminal with blood on his hands and seems to make himself into a victim. I don't blame him, it's a smart story to tell. But it's not different from what you hear from a robber or murderer in a Western country. All criminals and psychopaths have such stories and most of them are not true. The data shows that this theory is wrong and it's a shame we don't get this alternative info in the documentary. I guess they wanted a hands-off approach where they let the pirates just tell their own moral story. But they did interview Westerners and intellectuals for other parts so I'm not sure why they refused to do it here. Not all feel good stories are true.
Besides this huge error in this 2009 documentary it's a fun watch and I even watched it on Youtube for free. If you just had the good stuff here it would be a very good documentary. There is even an older story of a Ukrainian ship being taken over by pirates and their company refusing to pay the ransom. They hid a mobile phone and recorded some videos from inside their cabin so overall the story is very powerful. It's also interesting that the ship transported weapons, yet the 17 male sailors just let the small pirate boats take them over and imprison them for 4 months before a ransom Ukrainian billionaire paid the ransom. This sounds insane.
Similarly the current Norwegian ship they follow took precautions that seem completely insane. They had bullet proof vests and helmets they just walked around in. Even when they were near NATO warships or didn't see any boats on their radar. Why? Probably because it was their first time with any protective gear so they didn't know how to use it. They also had constant boiling water pouring on the sides of the ship and some mini barbed wire. Nothing here seems like it would stop any pirate in any way and it's not clear why they are using the steam full time instead of using it on full power when a boat appeared on the radar. Maybe they just had it on for the camera crew?
These ships fully depend on the NATO ships to save them. So that's their weapons and response. But if the pirates capture you before a NATO ship can get to you then they can't do anything anymore no matter how close they are. Ransom has to be paid. And if they catch a pirate boat with weapons they just let them go with water bottles and sandwiches and even directions to nearby land. Unless they can prove the specific boat did something illegal they have to let them go. Weapons in international waters are legal. Which also begs the question: why didn't any of the Western ships have even a single rifle for protection? The NATO ships are extremely expensive. A few rifles on a cargo ship can solve all your problems. But it's just not something they had here.
Let's go over the main issue first. They interview a millionaire pirate leader and a Somali human rights activists. Both have some weird unexplained theory to explain the Somali piracy. Apparently these people used to fish and then American, European and Asian fighting boats came into their sea and emptied it meaning that the Somali had no way to sustain themselves and were forced to become pirates. For some reason the narrator just goes along with this weird theory without questioning it. It's of course completely false. I'm not even sure how they even created this conspiracy theory. They want to make Somalia out to be a victim of Western imperialism or something? Somalia was never a fishing nation. They should have been if they had any intelligence as a nation as it's a cheap food source, but they just never practising fishing on a large scale. Probably because it's a technical business. Then Western fishing ships don't just steal fish from random seas. And Somalia is catching MORE fish now than ever before, not less. The pirate leader in the documentary tells the documentary crew that his father died at sea while being run over by a foreign fishing boat. It's never made clear how he could possibly know it was foreign. And can he prove any part of this story? It's not even clear if he used to be a fisher or if he's lying about this. He's a criminal with blood on his hands and seems to make himself into a victim. I don't blame him, it's a smart story to tell. But it's not different from what you hear from a robber or murderer in a Western country. All criminals and psychopaths have such stories and most of them are not true. The data shows that this theory is wrong and it's a shame we don't get this alternative info in the documentary. I guess they wanted a hands-off approach where they let the pirates just tell their own moral story. But they did interview Westerners and intellectuals for other parts so I'm not sure why they refused to do it here. Not all feel good stories are true.
Besides this huge error in this 2009 documentary it's a fun watch and I even watched it on Youtube for free. If you just had the good stuff here it would be a very good documentary. There is even an older story of a Ukrainian ship being taken over by pirates and their company refusing to pay the ransom. They hid a mobile phone and recorded some videos from inside their cabin so overall the story is very powerful. It's also interesting that the ship transported weapons, yet the 17 male sailors just let the small pirate boats take them over and imprison them for 4 months before a ransom Ukrainian billionaire paid the ransom. This sounds insane.
Similarly the current Norwegian ship they follow took precautions that seem completely insane. They had bullet proof vests and helmets they just walked around in. Even when they were near NATO warships or didn't see any boats on their radar. Why? Probably because it was their first time with any protective gear so they didn't know how to use it. They also had constant boiling water pouring on the sides of the ship and some mini barbed wire. Nothing here seems like it would stop any pirate in any way and it's not clear why they are using the steam full time instead of using it on full power when a boat appeared on the radar. Maybe they just had it on for the camera crew?
These ships fully depend on the NATO ships to save them. So that's their weapons and response. But if the pirates capture you before a NATO ship can get to you then they can't do anything anymore no matter how close they are. Ransom has to be paid. And if they catch a pirate boat with weapons they just let them go with water bottles and sandwiches and even directions to nearby land. Unless they can prove the specific boat did something illegal they have to let them go. Weapons in international waters are legal. Which also begs the question: why didn't any of the Western ships have even a single rifle for protection? The NATO ships are extremely expensive. A few rifles on a cargo ship can solve all your problems. But it's just not something they had here.
