longest hijacking and take-along

One disappointing thing with hijack dramas is that you can pretty much predict how they will finish! That isn’t the case, however, with the unexpected six-episode series “The Hijacking of Flight 601,” which is based on actual events.

First things first: in May 1973, two “hungry” football players who later became revolutionaries hijack an Aerobolivar aircraft in Colombia. The period known as the “golden era of piracy in the air” saw aircraft taken over at whim; the particular hijacking was the longest in Latin American history. Cuba was often the destination.

The hijackers, Borja (Villafañe) and El Toro (Devetac), storm the cockpit, but Commander Wilches (Tappan), coolly and collectedly handles the situation and follows their instructions, heading for different destinations but warning them of potential technical difficulties. Marisol (Antonini), the inexperienced flight hostess, contributes nothing to the cause—she throws up and faints easily!

The hijackers make two requests while talks with Pirateque (Carriazo), the firm manager: the release of certain political prisoners and $200,000 in cash. A bargain is struck by the calculating bald guy and the sardonic but devoted boss of the flight attendants, Manchola (Benjumea), allowing two experienced air hostesses to join the aircraft at Aruba and respond to the needs of the forty-three passengers and three crew members.

Enter Barbara Gallo (Cano), who joins in for the “thrill of riding a hijacked plane,” and Edilma Lopez (Lopera), who is pushed to the breaking point by the need to earn to raise her three “father-abandoned” boys. Edilma is late, gets fired, and then takes the risk of boarding a hijacked airline. Then, as the two maintain the hijackers composed and the passengers steady while coming up with schemes to rescue the day, the game of who can outsmart whom starts.

The plane is filled with chaos: screams, sobs, dirt, horrible smells, and cigarette smoke (yes, smoking was permitted onboard the aircraft at the time). In between are the hijackers’ wailing cries of “revolution or death,” which seem more like exaggerated slogans than actual words. They seem inexperienced despite being pushed to the limit and even injuring a few others.

Then there is the eager beaver, Francisco “El Flaco” Marulanda (Vesga), a TV journalist, who encourages the hijackers to join him and a cameraman so they may film the events. As destiny would have it, he must wait until everything makes sense to conclude.

The management of Aerobolivar chooses to give cash for the passengers’ benefit as the crisis worsens and time is running out, but the Colombian president declares on national television that no negotiations would be made with terrorists. When the journalist joyfully boarded the aircraft or the flight hostesses were being pulled on board, where was he? Was this not the perfect situation for a commando raid?

It concerns the portrayal of human emotions in the midst of mayhem in a hijack scenario. On this front, the filmmakers have had varying degrees of success. The six episodes are overlong, clocking up at almost fifty minutes per. It becomes less impressive what might have been accomplished in three or, at most, four compact episodes. But the finale revelation is well worth the wait!