Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Robert I watched "Deadly Voyage" because David Suchet was in it, after enjoying him in the "Poirot" series. And Joss Ackland is always worth watching, so I went into the film with an expectation of it being a potentially worthwhile film. Alas, it was not to be.I won't bother critiquing the performances, the pacing, the cinematography or any other structural aspect of the film; others here have already given their opinions on those elements. The only thing I want to address is the film's message, since it proclaims in the intro that it's based upon a true story, and therein hangs the film's supposed importance."Deadly Voyage" primarily focuses upon an impoverished black African man named Kingsley who wants to move to the US, because he believes that he can make money there. Nothing more, nothing less -- his motivation is utterly selfish. (Of course some people will prevaricate by saying that he was doing it for his family, but in fact he decided to have children on the income he could make in Ghana, so he really just created his own problem.) To that end, Kingsley decides to stow-away aboard a Russian freighter bound for New York. In the process of doing this, he faces harsh conditions, racist crew members and other challenges.But this is precisely where the film leaves me unsympathetic. Why should the audience be expected to care about Kingsley? Simply because he has a goal? Goals aren't such a rare commodity that his should be privileged above say, the goal of the ship's captain or the woman he left at home with his newborn child. Kingsley's goal is illegal in the eyes of the US Government. It is also illegal in that it steals from the Russian shipping company. If he makes it to the US, it would involve taking out of a system that he has not put into. And if he gets caught, the shipping company will be fined $45,000. I doubt very much that any of the stowaways care about what their chosen course of action is costing anyone else; they're clearly just out for their own gain. He could've spent the $1,000 he won in the lottery at the beginning of the film, for legal passage to the US, and applied for residency and a work permit. Instead, he takes the illegal (and dangerous) route.So since Kingsley's voyage is illegal, selfish and cannot be ethically justified, why should we care about him or his ordeal? Simply because he faces challenges? Why should his challenges be privileged above the challenge of the Russian shipping company getting to New York without stowaways? Because he's black and the shipping company is white? The reason seems to be because Danny Glover (the film's executive producer) and others involved want us to root for Kingsley, as if he's a hero on some sort of noble voyage. But once you accept that illegal immigration, theft and a fool's mission aren't noble at all, you can't really care about him.Before anyone plays the race card, I assure you that I would've felt the same no matter what ethnicity/nationality the involved parties were. Imagine if a British person decided to stow-away in a train headed for Bhutan, sneak across the border, and collect "unwanted" Buddhist antiquities, to bring back to Britain to sell. How much sympathy could the challenges he faced generate? Very little, I'd bet. So why should we feel different for Kingley? Because he's black? Because he's poor by American standards? The filmmakers are banking on us sharing their views that the ends justify the means, and that a shipping company being fined $45,000 is inconsequential compared to the remote possibility of an unskilled laborer earning slightly more in the US than he could've if he had just stayed in his own home country. I didn't buy it for a minute.

roger-233 As an ex Merchant Seaman I was really interested in this movie : I personally have been involved in a stowaway search on leaving Kingston Jamaica where one person was found. We managed to get him ashore though as we were in territorial limits. On another ship I was on the stowaway was found and we could not land him anywhere due to passport/nationality issues. In fact he stayed on for a year as an almost "honorary" crew member and worked for his keep. Africa is notorious for stowaway pickups. There is a great scene in the beginning of the film when the bulk carrier enters the African port : her size dwarfing all. The crew pop ashore for a little intercourse and inebriation. So far normal. The drama starts when the stowaways enter the vast cavernous holds of the ship. Joss Ackland is brilliant as the Captain with a drink problem being harassed by his Nemesis Suchet right on form as the Companys representative on board. The stowaway search is classic but we did not have guns. I question the use of guns in this film. This ship seemed to have a vast armoury. In my experience guns at sea are severely restricted due to customs regulations., also having a dog on board was odd.Anti Rabies laws especially in Europe restrict carrying of animal severely. Anyway Pertwee is brilliant as the embittered Mate. The horror which follows the discovery of the victims is unbearable : the grim metallic background of the ships holds and a feeling that there is no where to hide adds to the drama.Some of the freighters crew are not into the murder and those who get involved are gradually sucked in to a world of violence from which there is no escape.The chase through the ship especially the engine room scenes are "edge on the seat" : the feeling of extreme claustrophobia abounds. The feeling of metal pressing in and death being only a gun barrel away. The film is brutal : my girlfriend had to give up watching it during the shooting and beating scenes. While this goes on Suchet in the comfort of his well appointed cabin gets drunk unaware of the mayhem 3 decks below. Its a tense film, flawed in parts but the real message is that we can all get sucked into violence like this. Slowly and surely. Think of the train drivers who took Jews to Auschwitz, the clerks who worked out those train timetable. I always remember someone who had visited Dachau concentration camp at the end of the war and he said that one of the S.S. Guards had put a bird-table outside the camp crematorium. This film is like that : ordinary people suddenly finding themselves in a world of unstoppable violence!

crimsontiger6 Brutal and boring. A bunch of thugs kill a group of refugees and one refugee escapes. It does not make a good movie. The best movies add something to the human experience, this is just boring low grade story telling. The fact that it is based on true events just makes it all the more tragic.

Theo Robertson I absolutely hate the idea of made for television films . For me TVMs usually involve Jane Seymour or Jaclyn Smith as the mother of a sick child who is dying of a difficult to treat disease all done in such a sugary manner that the audience doesn`t need tissues it needs insulin . So when DEADLY VOYAGE a made for TV film by the BBC and HBO based on a true story I vaguely remembered from a couple of years previously turned up on the TV schedules I sat down waiting to be bored senseless . I was surprised.No strike that last sentence , I wasn`t surprised I was shocked . Here is a TVM that grips you tighter than a great white shark , in fact DEADLY VOYAGE doesn`t deserve to be relegated to the TV schedules it should have been made and distributed by a top Hollywood film company due its absolutely terrifying premise and what`s more it`s - unlike PAPILLON and SLEEPERS - completely true For those who don`t know the story !!!!! POSSIBLE SPOILERS AS TO PLOT !!!!! sometime in the early 90s a bunch of Africans stowed away on an Ukrainian freight ship bound for France in order to work there. Of course it was an attempt at illegal immigration but the crew of the freighter had already been fined for allowing illegal immigrants onto their ship from a previous journey and not wanting to get into anymore trouble with maritime and immigration authorities the crew murder the Africans after discovering them hiding in the hold. All except one African , Kingsley Ofusu , who manages to escape from the firing squad but who must try and survive aboard the ship , but the problem is the crew are hunting him and France is still several days voyage away .Just typing the above paragraph reminds of how good DEADLY VOYAGE is . What a remarkable story , and once again it is - unlike many stories that claim to be - totally true . It`s very well written , directed and acted , especially by Sean Pertwee ( Why isn`t that guy a big name star ? ) , and most of all it`s a tense claustrophobic disturbing thriller that I can still remember vividly six years after seeing it for the one and only time . I look forward to seeing again .But you`ve got to ask yourself how can a TVM be better than most of the Hollywood action blockbusters that came out round about the same time ? Oh hold on , I`ve just had a disturbing thought about Jerry Bruickhiemer doing a remake with Tony Scott directing and with Denzil Washington playing Kingsley , Brad Pitt playing Pertwee`s role , massive artistic licence taken with events etc. Let`s keep DEADLY VOYAGE a superlative TVM rather than a poor blockbuster