Fisherman’s Friends – The Movie

 

Very rarely happens to me, that I am willing to watch one movie more that once. In fact, I could count repeatedly watched movies just on fingers of my two hands. A very special position in such a list belongs to the movie Once Upon A Time In The West largely because of the fantastic music by Ennio Morricone. 

As music is very important for me, no surprise, that a music related movie made it to the list again. A British flick called Fisherman’s Friends. First I was a bit hesitant to recommend watching this movie to my family, as it is lacking typical ‘bombastic’ effects greatly overused in the recent American cinematography. Fortunately, our children accepted my recommendation, overcame the slow beginning, after which all of us had a great time watching and singing with main characters.

The movie is based on a true story and beside humans the most important role play ancient fisherman songs called ‘sea shanties’. A basic plot of the movie is pretty straightforward, bordering with ‘simple’: a cynical London music executive hears a singing group of ten Cornish fisherman while on a stag weekend and believes that they can achieve musical success. The difficult part is convincing them and getting them to sign the contract. 

The Fisherman’s Friends, as described by the Wikipedia, are a folk music group from Port Isaac, Cornwall, who sing sea shanties. They have been performing locally since 1995, and signed a record deal with Universal Music in March 2010. Whilst essentially an a capella group, their studio recordings and live performances now often include traditional simple instrumentation. 

What makes this movie different is not only the traditional songs and music, but also depiction of ‘traditional’ relationships and community. The Cornish people are an ethnic group native to Cornwall and a recognized national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons who inhabited southern and central Great Britain before the Roman conquest. The fact that they still exist, after more than 2,000 years, that they still have their own language and culture, could be largely ascribed the the strength of their community. 

The movie shows Cornish in a good way. They are not overly sophisticated, but they are strong, sometimes even rude, but always able to help each other and put a good fight for their community, even against efforts to commercialize their culture. 

As the movie evolves, following in part the relationship between the music executive and the daughter of one of the musicians, we have an opportunity to see a different lifestyles. On one side it is a largely cynical way of solitary living of successful city dwellers, whose interest mostly circulate around personal success and money. On the other side we see a rural community, where everyone and everything is intertwined and connected, as a very basic requirement of survival. No surprise, that citizens from each side see the others as almost a different civilization, although they live only 5 hours drive apart. 

If you watched the movie in a friendly setting, I would be surprised, if music and songs wouldn’t make you stomp, clap, even sing with the musicians. After all, these sea shanties have been proven by centuries as they helped fishermen in their grueling work. This is music in its pure form, performed by ordinary people for themselves and their community. 

 

Very rarely happens to me, that I am willing to watch one movie more that once. In fact, I could count repeatedly watched movies just on fingers of my two hands. A very special position in such a list belongs to the movie Once Upon A Time In The West largely because of the fantastic music by Ennio Morricone. 

As music is very important for me, no surprise, that a music related movie made it to the list again. A British flick called Fisherman’s Friends. First I was a bit hesitant to recommend watching this movie to my family, as it is lacking typical ‘bombastic’ effects greatly overused in the recent American cinematography. Fortunately, our children accepted my recommendation, overcame the slow beginning, after which all of us had a great time watching and singing with main characters.

The movie is based on a true story and beside humans the most important role play ancient fisherman songs called ‘sea shanties’. A basic plot of the movie is pretty straightforward, bordering with ‘simple’: a cynical London music executive hears a singing group of ten Cornish fisherman while on a stag weekend and believes that they can achieve musical success. The difficult part is convincing them and getting them to sign the contract. 

The Fisherman’s Friends, as described by the Wikipedia, are a folk music group from Port Isaac, Cornwall, who sing sea shanties. They have been performing locally since 1995, and signed a record deal with Universal Music in March 2010. Whilst essentially an a capella group, their studio recordings and live performances now often include traditional simple instrumentation. 

What makes this movie different is not only the traditional songs and music, but also depiction of ‘traditional’ relationships and community. The Cornish people are an ethnic group native to Cornwall and a recognized national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons who inhabited southern and central Great Britain before the Roman conquest. The fact that they still exist, after more than 2,000 years, that they still have their own language and culture, could be largely ascribed the the strength of their community. 

The movie shows Cornish in a good way. They are not overly sophisticated, but they are strong, sometimes even rude, but always able to help each other and put a good fight for their community, even against efforts to commercialize their culture. 

As the movie evolves, following in part the relationship between the music executive and the daughter of one of the musicians, we have an opportunity to see a different lifestyles. On one side it is a largely cynical way of solitary living of successful city dwellers, whose interest mostly circulate around personal success and money. On the other side we see a rural community, where everyone and everything is intertwined and connected, as a very basic requirement of survival. No surprise, that citizens from each side see the others as almost a different civilization, although they live only 5 hours drive apart. 

If you watched the movie in a friendly setting, I would be surprised, if music and songs wouldn’t make you stomp, clap, even sing with the musicians. After all, these sea shanties have been proven by centuries as they helped fishermen in their grueling work. This is music in its pure form, performed by ordinary people for themselves and their community. 

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