i watched deadly voyage because david suchet was in it and after enjoying him in the poirot series. and joss ackland is always worth watching and so i went into the film with an expectation of it being a potentially worthwhile film. alas and it was not to be. i would not bother critiquing the performances and the pacing and the cinematography or any other structural aspect of the film while others here have already given their opinions on those elements. the only thing i want to address is the film message and since it proclaims in the intro that it based upon a true story and and therein hangs the film supposed importance. deadly voyage primarily focuses upon an impoverished black african man named kingsley who wants to move to the us and because he believes that he can make money there. nothing more and nothing less  his motivation is utterly selfish. (of course some people will prevaricate by saying that he was doing it for his family and but in fact he decided to have children on the income he could make in ghana and so he really just created his own problem. ) to that end and kingsley decides to stow away aboard a russian freighter bound for new york. in the process of doing this and he faces harsh conditions and 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 not such a rare commodity that his should be privileged above say and the goal of the ship captain or the woman he left at home with his newborn child. kingsley 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 and it would involve taking out of a system that he has not put into. and if he gets caught and the shipping company will be fined $45 and 000. i doubt very much that any of the stowaways care about what their chosen course of action is costing anyone else while theyre clearly just out for their own gain. he could have spent the $1 and 000 he won in the lottery at the beginning of the film and for legal passage to the us and and applied for residency and a work permit. instead and he takes the illegal (and dangerous) route. so since kingsley voyage is illegal and selfish and cannot be ethically justified and 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 black and the shipping company is white. the reason seems to be because danny glover (the film executive producer) and others involved want us to root for kingsley and as if he a hero on some sort of noble voyage. but once you accept that illegal immigration and theft and a fool mission aren not noble at all and you can not really care about him. before anyone plays the race card and i assure you that i would have felt the same no matter what ethnicity or nationality the involved parties were. imagine if a british person decided to stow away in a train headed for bhutan and sneak across the border and and collect unwanted buddhist antiquities and to bring back to britain to sell. how much sympathy could the challenges he faced generate. very little and i would bet. so why should we feel different for kingley. because he black. because he poor by american standards. the filmmakers are banking on us sharing their views that the ends justify the means and and that a shipping company being fined $45 and 000 is inconsequential compared to the remote possibility of an unskilled laborer earning slightly more in the us than he could have if he had just stayed in his own home country. i do not buy it for a minute. 
i watched deadly voyage because david suchet was in it and after enjoying him in the poirot series. and joss ackland is always worth watching and so i went into the film with an expectation of it being a potentially worthwhile film. alas and it was not to be. i would not bother critiquing the performances and the pacing and the cinematography or any other structural aspect of the film while others here have already given their opinions on those elements. the only thing i want to address is the film message and since it proclaims in the intro that it based upon a true story and and therein hangs the film supposed importance. deadly voyage primarily focuses upon an impoverished black african man named kingsley who wants to move to the us and because he believes that he can make money there. nothing more and nothing less  his motivation is utterly selfish. (of course some people will prevaricate by saying that he was doing it for his family and but in fact he decided to have children on the income he could make in ghana and so he really just created his own problem. ) to that end and kingsley decides to stow away aboard a russian freighter bound for new york. in the process of doing this and he faces harsh conditions and 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 not such a rare commodity that his should be privileged above say and the goal of the ship captain or the woman he left at home with his newborn child. kingsley 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 and it would involve taking out of a system that he has not put into. and if he gets caught and the shipping company will be fined $45 and 000. i doubt very much that any of the stowaways care about what their chosen course of action is costing anyone else while theyre clearly just out for their own gain. he could have spent the $1 and 000 he won in the lottery at the beginning of the film and for legal passage to the us and and applied for residency and a work permit. instead and he takes the illegal (and dangerous) route. so since kingsley voyage is illegal and selfish and cannot be ethically justified and 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 black and the shipping company is white. the reason seems to be because danny glover (the film executive producer) and others involved want us to root for kingsley and as if he a hero on some sort of noble voyage. but once you accept that illegal immigration and theft and a fool mission aren not noble at all and you can not really care about him. before anyone plays the race card and i assure you that i would have felt the same no matter what ethnicity or nationality the involved parties were. imagine if a british person decided to stow away in a train headed for bhutan and sneak across the border and and collect unwanted buddhist antiquities and to bring back to britain to sell. how much sympathy could the challenges he faced generate. very little and i would bet. so why should we feel different for kingley. because he black. because he poor by american standards. the filmmakers are banking on us sharing their views that the ends justify the means and and that a shipping company being fined $45 and 000 is inconsequential compared to the remote possibility of an unskilled laborer earning slightly more in the us than he could have if he had just stayed in his own home country. i do not buy it for a minute. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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