Representing modern piracy, mixed with just enough humor to keep it from making fun of the real horrors of modern piracy, Six Days Seven Nights is an Ivan Reitman directed high seas plane crash disaster set in the pacific ocean. Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford) and Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) crash on a unknown Pacific island, after the small plane they were flying in is hit by lightning in an unexpected rain storm. Things get dicey from there....
First of all, the two do not get along at all. To make matters worse, Robin is a serious New Yorker who wouldn't know the first thing about how to handle a survival situation if it told her how; which by no means helps Quinn's efforts to get them off the island. Just when things start to look up, along come, you guessed it: Pirates!
Robin: Pirates?? As in "arrrgh"?!
Yep.
The pirates are a mixture people found all round the Pacific Rim, but are led by the Maori speaking Jager (portrayed by legendary Native New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison, you know the clones from The Clone Wars). The gang also includes, amongst other just named as "pirate," Maori actor Cliff Curtis (with some truly crazy hair!!) as Kip and Mexican/Native American hard nose actor Danny Trejo as Pierce--this is a rough and tumble group! And they do not shy away from murder
Although IMDb only mentions that the languages spoken are primarily in English and some German, the movie does actually contain more Maori and even more French and Tahitian than German. Filmed entirely (the out door scenes) on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i, with actors of Vietnamese, Latin American, Japanese and Polynesian, all this makes for a truly multi-ethnic production; with a lot of very talented actors willing to take small or even tiny parts. How, and it also features legendary blues man Taj Mahal with his band The Hula Hula Boys.
And hey, there's even snow...a good tie in with last week. Below is the trailer.
Six Days Seven Nights - Trailer 1998 by mariotoledo
Some Links On Modern Piracy:
Here's a good article from National Geographic
This is from NPR related specifically on Somali pirates
From Boston.com
A look at the other side of the matter
This good example of why know one goes very far from shore, any where without a weapon on board. In the movie, it precisely these type of people who get preyed on.
Here's piece from the BBC about large scale piracy in the China sea
Malacca Strait pirates also in an article from National Geographic
And if the following map is to be believed, there are still pirates in Caribbean, along being from the region myself, I know that the waters there are pretty safe, and attack fairly isolated. Though, you should never, ever be without a weapon or two when out anywhere even a little isolated on a boat. Even in Florida waters! Modern drug smugglers, while not exactly pirates, can be more dangerous than some out for your boat, your stuff, or even you!
Whew, looking a piracy on a modern level is a little stressful. Here's the Hula Band to mellow us out. This is the song featured in the movie.
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