We are warmly reminded of such simple joy in Chris Foggin’s film Fisherman’s Friends that is based on the actual UK band that achieved a sensational top ten hit with sea shanties.
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While so many strive to seek the finest in life, many often neglected the simple joys as life itself pass them by. We are warmly reminded of such simple joy in Chris Foggin’s film Fisherman’s Friends that is based on the actual UK band that achieved a sensational top ten hit with sea shanties.
Born and raised in a small fishing village Port Isaac on the coast of Cornwall, UK, people led a simple but robust life of fishing. They would have been hidden from most of the world until a group of city dwellers from London who happened to be there on a short break chanced upon this community.
At one of their casual singing sessions, a group of ten Cornish fishermen sang their hearts out with pompous sea shanties – traditional folk songs of the sea that were passed on to them from their forefathers. What made these group of singers stand out is how they wore their lives proudly on their sleeves and celebrated the traditions and culture infused in their way of life.
It is something that music industry executive Danny (Daniel Mays) finds inspirational and charmingly alluring from his city life in London. Part of the film follows him spending time in Port Isaac together with the fishing community and closely bonded with them.
A typical ‘fish out of water’ premise that eventually warms up to the audience with songs and emotions running high throughout the entire film. This is also largely arising from moving performance by cast members such as James Purefoy and Tuppen Middleton who play father and daughter Jim and Alwyn respectively.
Despite holding intrinsic values close to their hearts where friendship always comes first and music a close second, it is interesting to observe how folks from a 17th-century fishing village were actually convinced to take their first step towards a positive albeit risky change in their lives – something that doesn’t happen so very often.
It is this very reception to change that also led to the eventual success of Fisherman’s Friends where they won the crowds with an unlikely genre in the music industry that had often been dictated by pop culture and trendy lyrics. The musical and lyrical narrative found within the songs of the sea might have been a breath of fresh air to many. It is also a revelation to some who might not have known the existence of these people and their stories of the sea.
Just like the menthol flavour lozenges found in stores, Fisherman’s Friends revitalises and opens one’s heart and vocal cords with songs and elation.
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