Kapringen (A Hijacking) is a Danish language film, (although the characters do fluctuate between Danish and English), from director Tobias Lindholm. It is set aboard the cargo ship MV Rozen which is captured by Somali pirates and the crew are held to ransom.

Lindholm said that he wanted to make a factual film about the capture of boats such as Danica White and Cec Future by Somali pirates (in 2007, and 2008 respectively). However, Lindholm said he could never really tell the truth about those incidents because, as he wrote on the film's official website, "I don't think the truth exits (about those incidents). But I could make a film about sea men, pirates, CEOs and relatives. Because they do exist. And if A Hijacking feels like it is about them, then I am very close to my goal." In other words this film is to him what The Master was to Paul Thomas Anderson: He couldn't make the factual film he wanted to make about Scientology so he made one "inspired by the L. Ron Hubbard story".

A Hijacking is an inhumanly tense affair. Their are no explosive 24 style shoot-outs or hostage rescue operations; you don't even see the hijack. The action the film does have to offer is split across two stagnant and claustrophobic settings: the board room and the boat. The board communicate with the pirates either via fax or by an impossibly bad phone line, and when this is isn't happening the viewer is left in a torturous limbo as we watch the men in the board room pace while the pirates laugh casually, the crew's safety hanging gut-crushingly in the balance.

There are also some stella acting performances. Pilou Asbaek is incredibly moving as Mikkel the ship's cook, who provides some tear-jerking scenes when on the phone to his wife and young daughter. But the show stealer is easily Soren Malling as Peter, the CEO of the company. Malling's character is set up to be an ice-in-his-veins businessman at the beginning of the film, but disregards advice to get a professional negotiator and engages the pirates himself. Malling lets the cracks show perfectly.

At a time when crowds are flocking to see The Great Gatsby and Star Trek: Into Darkness this is likely to be overlooked. But A Hijacking creates tension without the use of music and demonstrates quality film-making that most mainstream Hollywood releases fail to match. Well worth the cost of a ticket and the 99 minutes it takes to watch.