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The Pirates of Somalia

The Pirates of Somalia

Drama · 2017

After an inspiring chance encounter with his idol, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur uproots his life and moves to Somalia looking for the story of a lifetime. Hooking up with a local fixer, he attempts to get embedded with the local Somali pirates, only to quickly find himself in over his head.

Movie details

The Pirates of Somalia

2017 Drama 1h 57m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.9 / 10

Community rating

After an inspiring chance encounter with his idol, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur uproots his life and moves to Somalia looking for the story of a lifetime. Hooking up with a local fixer, he attempts to get embedded with the local Somali pirates, only to quickly find himself in over his head.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Pirates of Somalia?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Bryan Buckley

Written by

Bryan Buckley

Evan Peters

Evan Peters

Jay Bahadur

Barkhad Abdi

Barkhad Abdi

Abdi

Melanie Griffith

Melanie Griffith

Maria Bahadur

Al Pacino

Al Pacino

Seymour Tolbin

Philip Ettinger

Philip Ettinger

Alex

Russell Posner

Russell Posner

Jared Bahadur

Kiana Madani

Kiana Madani

Tracy Ziconni

Court is in session

Put The Pirates of Somalia on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.