Salmon Fishing in the Yemen [M]

When Britain’s leading fishing expert, Dr Jones, is approached by a consultant with a scheme to realise a visionary sheikh’s dream of introducing the sport of fly-fishing to the Yemen, he initially brushes it off as a pipe dream that is absolutely impossible to realise. But when a fresh scandal breaks out in parliament, the Prime Minister’s overzealous press secretary latches onto the plan as a good story, and soon the unlikely team of Dr Jones, the sheikh’s consultant, and the sheikh himself embark upon an upstream journey of faith as they try to make the impossible possible. 

I think the best word to describe this movie is lovely. It’s absolutely lovely! It’s filled with absolutely everything from comedy, to drama, to romance, plenty of complications, loads of gorgeous scenery, and great characters. I thought Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was absolutely lovely! 

When Britain’s leading fishing expert, Dr Jones, is approached by a consultant with a scheme to realise a visionary sheikh’s dream of introducing the sport of fly-fishing to the Yemen, he initially brushes it off as a pipe dream that is absolutely impossible to realise. But when a fresh scandal breaks out in parliament, the Prime Minister’s overzealous press secretary latches onto the plan as a good story, and soon the unlikely team of Dr Jones, the sheikh’s consultant, and the sheikh himself embark upon an upstream journey of faith as they try to make the impossible possible. 

Without a doubt, the real star of the show was neither Ewan McGregor or Emily Blunt, but the film’s cinematography. The camera is used in a great variety of ways to achieve all manner of effects in this film and I do actually think it’s the various angles and the symmetry they pose with what’s being said in the script, that actually hammers home the point about faith and the soothing, at peace feeling that apparently comes with being a lover of fishing. There is one scene, about halfway through that shows Dr. Jones walking away from the consultant’s building, but then stopping, turning around, and then making his way through the crowd back in the opposite direction. Filmed as an aerial shot, this particular scene really impressed upon me the symmetry between these characters and the salmon and added with the beautiful music that accompanies the scene it’s just gorgeous! 

All the performances were beautiful, the script is very lovely, and the music is just so marvellous when its played against these beautiful, sweeping aerial shots of the scenery, making Salmon Fishing in the Yemen just a lovely film all around. 

Starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt. Kristen Scott Thomas, Catherine Steadman, Tom Milson, Rachael Stirling, and Amr Waked, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a lovely film that’s filled with romance, the impossible, drama, complications, satire, and comedy. I really thought it was absolutely lovely!