In writer-director Tobias Lindholm's solo debut "A Hijacking", the cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbour when it is boarded and captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship’s cook Mikkel and the engineer Jan, who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company and the Somali pirates.
"A Hijacking" was made according to the same principle of authenticity as Lindholm's debut feature "R" (with co-director Michael Noer) which was actually filmed in a prison with a cast mostly of real guards and ex-convicts. The shooting of "A Hijacking" took place in all secrecy in The Indian Ocean in piracy-prone waters on a freighter that was hijacked once in real life, with a cast including a professional hostage negotiator in a leading role.
And according to the Danish critics the realistic setting shows in the film:
"It's remarkable that Tobias Lindholm's film feels closer to reality than much reality television and overly staged news.'A Hijacking' is a claustrophobic, monoman film that ultimately hammers his vision so unabashedly into the audience that you almost leave aching from the cinema", writes Kristian Lindberg in Berlingske.
"The realism dogma, which has characterized Lindholm's films so far, is not only highly efficient but also courageous, because it's so uncompromising. There is a risk that some lose interest along the way, but also a great chance that the patient gets an inescapable experience," writes Nanna Frank Rasmussen in Jyllands-Posten.
"Heavily talented Tobias Lindholm's captivating and unsensational solo film debut, the pirate drama 'A Hijacking', is an impressively, well-constructed film about waiting negotiating. Rarely has a jammed situation trembled with such vivacity and realism, "writes Katrine Hornstrup Yde in Information.
"A piece of sober and exciting drama, where it truly feels just like being there. A new sense of the impact of documentary and stories from the real world has appeared in a new generation of Danish storytellers. With 'The Hijacking' Tobias Lindholm has proved to be the man who embodies this more than any other filmmaker. He tries something new and succeeds beautifully," writes Kim Skotte in Politiken.
"A Hijacking" is produced by Tomas Radoor and René Ezra for Nordisk Film with support from the Danish Film Institute.
Read interview with Tobias Lindholm If I Told You I Saw a Cow …