“Captain Phillips”, Movie About Vermont hero, in Ludlow, April 4

“Captain Phillips”, Movie About Vermont hero, in Ludlow, April 4

FOLA (Friends of Ludlow Auditorium) will feature the Internationally-recognized film, "Captain Phillips, at the Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium on Saturday, April 4, at 7 PM.

Captain Phillips is a 2013 American thriller film directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi. The film is inspired by the true story of the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, an incident during which merchant mariner Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage by pirates in the Indian Ocean led by Abduwali Muse.

The screenplay by Billy Ray is based on the 2010 book A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty. Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca served as producers on the project. It premiered at the 2013 New York Film Festival, and was theatrically released on October 11, 2013.

Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) takes command of the MV Maersk Alabama, an unarmed container ship from the Port of Salalah in Oman, with orders to sail through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, Kenya. Wary of pirate activity off the coast of the Horn of Africa, he and First Officer Shane Murphy (Michael Chernus) order strict security precautions on the vessel and carry out practice drills. During a drill, the vessel is chased by Somali pirates in two skiffs, and Phillips calls for help. Knowing that the pirates are listening to radio traffic, he pretends to answer the call and to promise immediate air support. One skiff turns around in response, and the other – manned by four heavily armed pirates led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi) – loses engine power trying to steer through the Maersk Alabama '​s wake.

The pirates managed to board the ship; what follows is the heroic efforts by Captain Phillips to protect his crew while placing himself in harms way.

This action-packed film received six nominations for the Academy Awards and made Captain Phillips, a Vermonter, a national hero.

As with all FOLA movies, the event is open to everyone and is free; donations to underwrite the cost of the film are appreciated. The free popcorn is supplied courtesy of Berkshire Bank; FOLA supplies free bottled water. For information, call802-228-7239 or www.fola.us.