Written by John Shea
It focuses on a time when British radio (the government run BBC) refused to play even an hour of rock and roll a day. This, during the 1960s, a period when rock music, particularly British rock, was monstrously potent and influential. But people, being what they are, have a tendency to find their way around the rules. And so pirate radio stations sprang up on ships anchored off the coast of Britain, playing rock music around the clock to an appreciative audience of over 20 million listeners. There's a line in the movie where Quentin (Bill Nighy), the owner of the pirate radio station Radio Rock, says "Governments loathe people being free." The line gets a big laugh but it's no joke. The government there promptly started finding ways to outlaw pirate radio stations. And in this country the government has used the FCC to meddle with radio and TV content for decades, despite that pesky comment in the Constitution about Congress making no law abridging the freedom of speech. Funny how they ignore that.
The movie mostly follows the antics of the crew of Radio Rock, highlighted by its most popular DJs The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Gavin (Rhys Ifans). They make a point of doing all the sorts of things on the radio that makes the government work itself into a lather to prevent the public from hearing. Here's a brief question. If a large portion of the public listens happily, doesn't that make what they are doing mainstream? With an audience in the millions, it's pretty hard to define these stations as fringe or outside the norm.
Despite that concept, a government minister (Kenneth Branagh) starts working out ways to get rid of these radio stations. Mostly this goes poorly. The pirates are either too clever or the audience is too firmly behind the pirates to let him get much traction. So he moves to the next logical step, ignoring the public entirely and passing a law in secret that makes the pirate stations operation illegal. It's all done in the name of protecting a group that wasn't particularly being harmed or clamoring to be protected.
For sheer entertainment value, you can't ask for much more than this. It is stuffed with jokes, great characters and ending that is a huge crowd-pleaser. Best of all is the cast. Bill Nighy is the sort of actor who makes me smile just by being in a movie. Here he unleashes his full arsenal of subtle facial expressions, shrugs and pauses for pure comedy gold. Few actors can find as unusual and funny way to deliver a line as Nighy. Phillip Seymour Hoffman brings a full complement of shaggy cool. At first glance it hearkens to his turn as the rock critic Lester Bangs in Almost Famous, but closer examination shows that the only thing these roles have in common is a passionate love of rock music. Bangs was tragically uncool while The Count personifies cool. Kenneth Branagh plays the heavy but still manages to be plenty funny with his merciless persecution. And then there is Nick Frost, a guy who has been uniformly hilarious in his roles but never gets credit for his acting. Look back at him in Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, then compare it to this role and you'll see he's never repeating himself. It's always a completely different, yet highly effective comedic turn. The rest of the cast is great as well but I need to limit this to the standouts or I'll be typing for a week.
I've rewritten this review a number of times. I find myself unable to stay off the theme of the movie, which inevitably leads me into a political rant. And that's not what you're here to read. At the core of this movie is a group of people who were not seeking a quarrel with the government and were not trying to make any sort of statement. They were simply passionately spreading the music that they dearly loved. When the government inserted itself into the middle of that, they refused to be silenced and defiantly continued, even to the point of risking their lives. To me, that is beautiful. For that alone, this movie would earn a soft spot in my heart. Tack on that it is great fun to watch and you have a movie I can't wait to buy a copy of on DVD.
Thursday, 29 October 2009 01:43
Would it be audacious to suggest that Pirate Radio is the important movie you see this year? Probably, but suggest I will. Any movie that so strongly states the proper response to an abuse of authority deserves your love and attention. This movie rocks, both figuratively and literally.It focuses on a time when British radio (the government run BBC) refused to play even an hour of rock and roll a day. This, during the 1960s, a period when rock music, particularly British rock, was monstrously potent and influential. But people, being what they are, have a tendency to find their way around the rules. And so pirate radio stations sprang up on ships anchored off the coast of Britain, playing rock music around the clock to an appreciative audience of over 20 million listeners. There's a line in the movie where Quentin (Bill Nighy), the owner of the pirate radio station Radio Rock, says "Governments loathe people being free." The line gets a big laugh but it's no joke. The government there promptly started finding ways to outlaw pirate radio stations. And in this country the government has used the FCC to meddle with radio and TV content for decades, despite that pesky comment in the Constitution about Congress making no law abridging the freedom of speech. Funny how they ignore that.
The movie mostly follows the antics of the crew of Radio Rock, highlighted by its most popular DJs The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Gavin (Rhys Ifans). They make a point of doing all the sorts of things on the radio that makes the government work itself into a lather to prevent the public from hearing. Here's a brief question. If a large portion of the public listens happily, doesn't that make what they are doing mainstream? With an audience in the millions, it's pretty hard to define these stations as fringe or outside the norm.
Despite that concept, a government minister (Kenneth Branagh) starts working out ways to get rid of these radio stations. Mostly this goes poorly. The pirates are either too clever or the audience is too firmly behind the pirates to let him get much traction. So he moves to the next logical step, ignoring the public entirely and passing a law in secret that makes the pirate stations operation illegal. It's all done in the name of protecting a group that wasn't particularly being harmed or clamoring to be protected.
For sheer entertainment value, you can't ask for much more than this. It is stuffed with jokes, great characters and ending that is a huge crowd-pleaser. Best of all is the cast. Bill Nighy is the sort of actor who makes me smile just by being in a movie. Here he unleashes his full arsenal of subtle facial expressions, shrugs and pauses for pure comedy gold. Few actors can find as unusual and funny way to deliver a line as Nighy. Phillip Seymour Hoffman brings a full complement of shaggy cool. At first glance it hearkens to his turn as the rock critic Lester Bangs in Almost Famous, but closer examination shows that the only thing these roles have in common is a passionate love of rock music. Bangs was tragically uncool while The Count personifies cool. Kenneth Branagh plays the heavy but still manages to be plenty funny with his merciless persecution. And then there is Nick Frost, a guy who has been uniformly hilarious in his roles but never gets credit for his acting. Look back at him in Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, then compare it to this role and you'll see he's never repeating himself. It's always a completely different, yet highly effective comedic turn. The rest of the cast is great as well but I need to limit this to the standouts or I'll be typing for a week.
I've rewritten this review a number of times. I find myself unable to stay off the theme of the movie, which inevitably leads me into a political rant. And that's not what you're here to read. At the core of this movie is a group of people who were not seeking a quarrel with the government and were not trying to make any sort of statement. They were simply passionately spreading the music that they dearly loved. When the government inserted itself into the middle of that, they refused to be silenced and defiantly continued, even to the point of risking their lives. To me, that is beautiful. For that alone, this movie would earn a soft spot in my heart. Tack on that it is great fun to watch and you have a movie I can't wait to buy a copy of on DVD.
