Evidently,
Somalis are irked by the fact none of their countrymen play the Somali
characters in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk
Down. Of course, many Americans are still slightly disappointed that the
bodies of U.S. military casualties were dragged through the streets after the
Battle of Mogadishu, so maybe they should just call it even. Regardless, real Somalis
are just misunderstood by the western media, because no reporter had the guts
to embed there. That was Jay Bahadur’s contention. He sets out to prove it and
to make his name as a foreign correspondent in Bryan Buckley’s The Pirates of Somalia (a.k.a. Dabka, trailer here), which releases today on DVD.
Canadian
slacker Bahadur is a recent college graduate, who is bitterly disappointed to
learn he might actually have to work for a living. He lives in his parents’
basement and obsesses over his ex-girlfriend, while remaining convinced he is
God’s gift to journalism. However, the mentorship of crusty retired journalist
Seymour Tolbin inspires him to formulate a plan so crazy it just might work: go
to a country no western journalist is willing to report from and offer his
services as a stringer. He should also make a big deal about writing a book.
(Annoyingly, the film seems to have little idea how publishing really works.
Trade houses do not hire stringers and news service are rarely involved in the
publication of books, but we see general purpose media figure head Avril Benoît
turn down the increasingly desperate Bahadur for both.)
Lo
and behold, the Somali president and the largest news service are eager to have
someone come tell their nation’s story, particularly with respect to the
government’s attempt to crack down on the pirates. They provide him a fixer-translator,
Abdi, and a security detail, but Bahadur’s clumsy naivete will make each
interview more dangerous than it needed to be.
Not
surprisingly, the Oscar nominated Barkhad Abdi appears as his fixer namesake.
Frankly, he really is a very good actor, who is starting to break out of his typecast-mold.
Nonetheless, a film like this is still his bread-and-butter—and he is indeed
quite good pranking and then watching Bahadur’s back. On the other hand, it is
hard to take Evan Peters seriously as our rookie reporter, especially
considering how awkward he sounds when pronouncing the name Bahadur.
At
least, Al Pacino is relatively amusing, swaggering about as Tolbin. However,
the instantly recognizable voice of Melanie Griffith is totally distracting in
the nothing-throwaway role of Bahadur’s mom. Yet, it should be readily
stipulated the cast of Somali refugees is consistently impressive (and
logically quite believable), especially Mohamed Barre as the relatively benign
pirate Boyah, and Mohamed Osmail Ibrahim as the stone cold evil pirate Garaad.
