Hostage Situation Ends When Ukraine Prez Recommends Joaquin Phoenix Movie

A hostage-taking in Ukraine ended safely when the country’s president responded to one of the shooter’s bizarre requests – posting a video encouraging people to watch a Joaquin phoenix movie.

Here’s the deal … a heavily armed man took 13 people hostage on a bus in western Ukraine, leading to a tense day-long standoff with police on Tuesday.

The gunman told cops he rigged the bus with explosives and was holding the passengers hostage, and gave the government a list of demands. Sounds a lot like the plot of “Speed”, right?!?

The hostage taker, later identified as 44, born in Russia Maksym S. Kryvosh, finally surrendered and released the 13 people after the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky responded to one of the requests: Post a video on his official Facebook account recommending that people watch the 2005 documentary, “Earthlings.”

Can you believe it The guy didn’t even ask for “The Joker”.

The documentary, directed by Shaun Monson and narrated by Joaquin, focuses on the human exploitation of animals. Ukrainian officials explained that Zelenskiy reached an agreement with the hostage taker during a 15-minute phone call, with the shooter surrendering after Zelensky posted to Facebook.

After the shooter was arrested and the hostages were safe, Zelensky removed the movie suggestion from his Facebook page.