Rock the boat!

So London is awash with anti-capitalist protestors attempting to disrupt the G20, sending the City bankers into hiding or into jeans at least and disturbing the status quo. Well unless, like me, you work on the West End. It appears we scruffy broke media types are not capitalist enough to be targeted. I’m not sure how I feel about the protests. In a democratic society the right to peaceful protest is vital, however it appears that half the people who are protesting don’t know what they are protesting against. Many of them are masked, which I don’t understand. If you care about something enough to take to the streets against it, would you not be proud to add your face to the cause. Whether I am for or against the cause being protested, I can’t support anything that involves hitting police officers over the head with poles or wilful destruction of public property. Maybe I am becoming conservative in my old age…

Avoiding the G20 chaos, B and I decided to go and see The Boat That Rocked instead. Although it is exorbitantly priced (£20 for the “good seats”), there is something kinda cool about West End cinemas. Of course we went for cheap seats and used B’s Orange Wednesday code for the 2-for-1 deal… but you know…

Set in the 60’s, the story follows Young Carl (everyone has a nickname in this film) who is packed off by his mother (Emma Thompson) to visit his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy) and supposedly straighten out after being expelled from school. The thing is Quentin is the owner of a pirate radio station on a boat moored in the North Sea where a raggle taggle group of DJs (and their lesbian cook) broadcast rock music 24 hours a day, while the out of touch BBC plays virtually no pop-music whatsoever. Which makes us (and DJ Thick Kevin) wonder why exactly Carl’s mother has picked this particular “refuge”. Horrified by the popularity of pirate radio, MP, Minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh), enlists the help of his assistant, the aptly named Twatt (Jack Davenport) to find a way to shut “Radio Rock” down. When advertising on pirate radio is banned, Quentin calls back former DJ Gavin (Rhys Ifans) to keep the clients paying, unsettling the boat dynamics and leading to competition with The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the resident premier DJ. Played against Carl’s coming of age story and pirate radio’s desperate struggle to stay alive, with a soundtrack so stunning it is a character of its own, the film is laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly touching and uplifting. If you love rock music or at least, like me, grew up with parents who blasted The Stones, The Beach Boys and The Who out of their stereos, it’s a must-see. Even if only to ogle the adorable Carl (Tom Sturridge) or silently mysterious Jim Morrison-a-like DJ Mark (Tom Wisdom). How about it then? Hell yes!