It was supposed to be a romantic comedy. It was supposed to lift my spirits and make me feel better about my life, but no, it was a movie about bringing salmon to Yemen and creating community, and surprisingly I enjoyed it. A lot. Like an intense amount of love.

“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is a movie about a sheik who wishes to bring salmon to his people and through the help of his representative (Emily Blunt) and Britain’s leading fisheries expert (Ewan McGregor). They set out on a journey to make what might seem impossible, possible.

One of the main reasons why the people of Britain wanted to help bring salmon to Yemen was because the Prime Minister’s press secretary thought that they needed to become a part of ‘good will’ news. The fact that the press thought they needed to report on something positive to help people see them as the good people was a very interesting aspect of this movie.

Being in journalism, I know that reporting on devastating news is where a large amount of the audience is. Many believe, “If it bleeds it leads.” But in this movie, they want to gain back the public both in their own country and those abroad. It seems a little like trickery to me, but in the end, sending someone to cover and help the people of Yemen have salmon, turned out to be a good thing.

The movie was very short and to me not as detailed as I wished. I felt like by the end of the movie I was left with a bunch of questions. I don’t want to be that person that ruins the end for you, but it was a clump of emotions that I just did not know how to handle in the minutes that it all came together.

The story line could have been more developed and if this was supposed to be a romantic comedy, there definitely could have been more laughs and love.

But I began to enjoy the subtlety of these elements. I respected how the writers and producers of the movie did not force these concepts down the audience’s throat, it was presented in a way that lead the viewer to draw their own conclusions. It made me think for myself, which was enjoyable because many times movies think for you, they do not allow you to challenge your own perceptions.

“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” treated the audience like they were intelligent human beings, and I adore that. We need more films that embrace the fact that not all moviegoers want a plain and simple storyline.

The film was cast perfectly. I cannot complain about that. The acting was very well done and most of the time I felt like I was part of the story, which is hard, because I have never been to a place like Yemen.  The videography was simple and engaging without trying too hard. I felt like the movie was filmed almost like a biography because of the lack of fancy angles and special effects.

Sometimes, the simplicity of how a movie is made is what makes it worth watching again and again.