What Moves You?

The power of stories and the incredible real-life account behind the ending scene in Captain Phillips.

Stories Move

Stories carry incredible power.

The telling of stories has allowed humans to transmit knowledge throughout history.

Stories are the vessel to our subconscious.

A good story initiates brain activity that can alter perspective, enhance learning, cause empathy, encourage connection, evoke emotion, and improve memory.

The stories we tell and receive shape our experience.

To inspire a person, tell a story.

To move an audience, tell a story.

Stories, not statements, are what influence people.

The better the story, the stronger the response.

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A Personal Story

I’ve taught resilience and stress management in the military for ten years. Anywhere from five minutes to week-long courses, I’ve logged a lot of time discussing these concepts. The sharing of stories with students always leads to the best moments. While people appreciate the practical strategies discussed, it is the stories that continuously receive the most positive feedback on post-course evaluations.

Stories provide a bridge between our souls. They reveal the collective experience that is being human.

There is a story that I’ve told many times that I still struggle to get through without getting emotional:

With Gary’s blessing, I continue to share Ilaiah’s story. Her life transformed mine. Her story and the resilience of her family has helped me through my own significant struggles since her loss almost seven years ago.

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The Story Behind the Final Scene in Captain Phillips

There is another story I often like to tell and it’s actually from a previous class I taught for new members of our stress management team at Naval Hospital Guam eight years ago.

The movie Captain Phillips is excellent but the real-life story behind its dramatic ending scene is even better.

Movies and plays are visual stories. The art of acting is a skill requiring remarkable emotional regulation, especially when trying to balance genuine emotions from the ones being created for an audience. To be a good pretender takes significant time and effort in order to deliver a believable performance. This is why non-actors often struggle when attempting to play a role on film or stage.

As I reviewed notes and the newly updated slides my team would be giving the next day, I learned that we’d be sharing a video clip from the movie Captain Phillips followed by some discussion around the topic of supporting others in stressful situations. I knew the general plot of the film at the time but still hadn’t seen it.

I read that the video I’d be showing would be of the final scene where Captain Phillips had just been saved from the Somali pirates who had been keeping him and his ship’s crew hostage for four days. Three Navy SEAL snipers had just eliminated his captors, and he was now being escorted into a military ship’s infirmary to be medically examined. Beaten, bruised, and traumatized, the protagonist witnessed the death of men on the verge of taking his life firsthand and was now safe. The simultaneous relief, pain, and shock Captain Phillips must have felt in this moment would be hard to act out. Luckily, his character was played by one of the best actors of all time in Tom Hanks.

What many don’t know is that every other “actor” in the final scene were actually Navy sailors stationed on the ship the movie was being filmed on.

The actual captain of the ship Captain Phillips had boarded after his rescue was consulting on the movie to make it as realistic as possible. The screenplay originally had Tom Hanks going home to his family but the director, Paul Greengrass, wasn’t a fan. He asked the captain what actually happened after the SEALs were able to extract Captain Phillips. The captain stated that he was immediately medically evaluated in the infirmary which led to the film crew going down to the medical bay and setting up for an unplanned, unscripted attempt at creating a new ending.

Navy Corpsman, Danielle Albert was selected to play the part of Chief O’Brien performing the medical examination.

Understandably, this young sailor who had no acting experience, completely froze and botched the first take. Tom Hanks apparently joked that he’s the one who was supposed to be shocked. The director then told Danielle to forget the cameras, forget who was across from her, and forget anything she thinks she should say.

Paul Greengrass simply told her, “Just do what you would do in real life.”

This was the second take:

The pride I feel from watching this scene never subsides.

Yes, I’m proud to be in the Navy and serve alongside such amazing people. I’m also proud to be in healthcare where I continuously have the opportunity to help others. While both of these career paths often stem from altruistic intentions, there are no specific virtuous professions.

Anything can be done for the greater good.

The pride this scene generates stems from the knowledge that the world is full of amazing people.

People who care.

People who want to contribute.

People want to make the world a better place in their unique way.

Paul Greengrass and the ship’s captain were reportedly brought to tears watching this improvised scene come to fruition. The captain stated, “I’ve seen trauma and that’s what it looks like.”

I was cried the first time I watched this unexpectedly powerful scene, especially when knew the background story.

Okay… I’m brought to tears most times I watch that video…

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Summary

The most powerful moments in life are unscripted.

True beauty comes from authenticity.

There is no script to life.

We write our own stories with our thoughts and subsequent actions.

The expression of your soul comes from the synergy of your mind and body.

What moves you? Why? How can you begin to authentically align with your soul?

What stories do you to tell yourself and others?

What stories are eventually going to be told about you?