The experience of seeing a movie is largely that-an experience. From where we are, to how we feel, to what we have heard going into the movie, and everything in between, in many ways we dictate how we feel about a movie. Movies themselves, though, have the power to transcend our experience in certain ways, to make us feel things that we might not have expected and experience things that we weren't ready for. Sometimes, a movie might bring us joy simply because it is so joy-filled and fun; other times, it might bring us hope because the message is so profound that our feelings of hope in the moment can't affect how strongly hopeful the movie itself is. In many ways, this is what makes good art - does the art itself transcend the viewer, calling them to see or to feel or to hear something that they were not already disposed to hearing. Be it a beautiful song, an extremely well-done movie, or a classic painting, we often treasure art because it in some way transcended a moment and became a classic, as we like to call them, meaning it will outlive the moment we first experienced it.
For me, Captain Phillips was the sort of movie that did this. I do not think, though, that it was because it was the most exceptionally made movie of all time. I also do not think that it was the best movie of all time, although the fact that it is based on a true story always adds a dimension of power that the visual art of cinematography struggles to portray. No, I think that this was a classic because of the sense of humanity that was found in every character and in every scene. Many times, it seems, Hollywood creations are so busy trying to figure out what they are and who they are that they create people and characters who are fascinating on the big screen and very difficult to imagine in real life. When a movie like Captain Phillips takes very good actors and has them play real people who experienced a truly incredible thing, it has the potential to show much more than just a movie, but to show humanity; and I think in many ways it did that. If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend you do that. The story of the movie is a captain of a ship which is transferring goods to Africa and gets boarded by a group of Somalian Pirates. I won't go into a critique or explanation of the story beyond that, because I am neither a movie critic nor do I want to spend the next 1,000 words trying to explain a plot which is pretty incredible. There are moments in the movie that would be difficult to describe except for masters of prose, which I am not, and which the actors capture so perfectly on screen that it would almost do a disservice to try.
Now, there might be a few of you reading this who didn't like the movie, or didn't see the movie, and are thinking to yourself "why am I still reading?" In order to keep your attention, then, let me get to the point.
What I think is so beautiful about this movie is that it captured the humanity of all different people, from all different experiences, reacting to what was happening in truly human ways. The good guys weren't just heroes, they were people; the bad guys weren't just criminals, they were people; the smaller roles weren't just extras, they were people. Every person had a story which showed in his (or her, although there are only a few female characters) expressions and responses; every person had feelings, emotions, and desires which played into every decision that he made. There were moments in this movie that were so profound, so powerful, so intense that they were emotional not in the way that they aroused a specific emotion, but simply in the fact that they drew out emotion and caused you to feel for the people you were watching. Maybe film critics and moviegoers will be able to analyze this movie and say that there were some things lacking, some things they could've done better, some aspects they didn't like. What nobody could do, though, is go to this movie and not feel something, for that is what our humanity does - it longs to feel with the humanity of the other, it cares for the other and notices the other, even at times when we weren't quite ready to feel that way.
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