The boat that rocked

What's more fun than an American commedy? A British one!

As I'm waiting for the new Hugh Grant's movie release (and I'm planning to buy a pair of opera glasses to better watch the protagonist's performance), I enjoyed a relaxing dvd night watching "The Boat that rocked", by Richard Curtis.

Back in the 60s, a pirate radio called Radio Rock broadcast rock music from a boat to the U.K. It was the frequency of the pop-longing, rule-breaking youth. Its nonconformist disc-jokeys crew raised the anger of Her Majesty's deputiees, who were concerned about ensuring moral and law-compliant behaviours. Minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) and his assistant Mr Twatt (such a surname tells you much about the character..) declared war to the pirate radio, trying to cut its advertising revenues and searching for a judicial precedent to finally ban broadcasting.

While successfully fighting against government measures, the life on board went on through a caleindoscope of rock music - good one: The Turtles, The Beatles, Jimie Hendrix, David Bowie, The Troggs...- and much sex and drug of course. As I was starting wondering if there was a way to send an application to become a cabin assistant on the Boat, shitty Mr Twatt came up with a quibble that would allow the Parliament to legislate against the pirate radio. It was found that a fishing ferry couldn't indeed send a help call because its frequency clashed against the more powerful radio's one: voilà the ground for the Marine Offensive Act.

No worries, the rocking crew didn't shut down just because of a fucking conservative called Twatt: broadcasting went on illegally thanks to the help of the rock-addict mariners community who hide the positioning of the Boat to government controllers.

The popularity of the Radio was growing enormously among boys with Beatles-like haircuts and girls in coloured miniskirts. People's love for RadioRock ended up saving the crew when it really semt they had come to an end: not because of stupid restrictions but because of continously repositioning on the North Sea. The engines broke down and the Boat began to sink: the last chance was reveiling its coordinates as broadcasting. The audience response saved the disc-jokeys from drowning and young people from being denied the right to listen to their music: that's what one calls consumers loyalty..the movie's ending would make the happyness of strategic marketing scholars around the world!

Sometimes critics really end up talking crap: The boat that rocked was fired at his release in the U.K. last April. Alright, the movie is too long. Ok, the plot is not terrific. Still, the crew captained by Quentin (an extraordinary Bill Nighy) is great fun: witty humour and caricatures of Hippies are accurate and make the movie run quickly. You'll end up thinking that it had to be quite tough to be young at that time, when rock'n'roll was considered agaist the moral. And that the "old generation" embodied by the British Cabinet really sucked! But also that it had to be extremely exciting to constantly break the rules by wearing miniskirts and smoke joints (last ones we know how it feels at least..)!

The true protagonist of the movie is its soundtrack: absolutely gorgeous! You'll just feel like raising your bottoms and twist in the middle of your room: as the dvd was running, I couldn't stop singing and dancing as a fool in my Hello Kitty pijama (nothing better than a British commedy in a warm Hello Kitty pijama to recover from the first wild day of winter sales downtown Milan!).

Believe me, you'll long for being back to the 60s-70s to live the social revolution that was going on and listen to pirate radios'broadcastings!

Sound track:

"Stay with Me Baby" - Duffy - 3:52
"All Day and All of the Night" - The Kinks - 2:23
"Elenore" - The Turtles - 2:30
"Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" - John Fred and His Playboy Band - 2:52
"Dancing in the Street" - Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - 2:36
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" - The Beach Boys - 2:23
"Ooo Baby Baby" - Smokey Robinson - 2:45
"This Guy's in Love with You" - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - 4:01
"Crimson and Clover" - Tommy James & The Shondells - 5:24
"Hi Ho Silver Lining" - Jeff Beck - 2:53
"I Can See for Miles" - The Who - 4:07
"With a Girl Like You" - The Troggs - 2:07
"The Letter" - The Box Tops - 1:54
"I'm Alive" - The Hollies - 2:25
"Yesterday Man" - Chris Andrews - 2:32
"I've Been a Bad Bad Boy" - Paul Jones - 2:20
"Silence Is Golden" - The Tremeloes - 3:09
"The End of the World" - Skeeter Davis - 2:39
"Friday on My Mind" - The Easybeats - 2:53
"My Generation" - The Who - 3:19
"I Feel Free" - Cream - 2:54
"The Wind Cries Mary" - Jimi Hendrix - 3:21
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" - Procol Harum - 4:00
"These Arms of Mine" - Otis Redding - 2:33
"Cleo's Mood" - Jr. Walker & The All Stars - 2:42
"The Happening" - The Supremes - 2:50
"She'd Rather Be with Me" - The Turtles - 2:21
"98.6" - The Bystanders - 3:19
"Sunny Afternoon" - The Kinks - 3:34
"Father and Son" - Cat Stevens - 3:42
"Nights in White Satin" - The Moody Blues - 4:26
"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" - Dusty Springfield - 2:49
"Stay with Me" - Lorraine Ellison - 3:33
"Hang On Sloopy" - The McCoys - 3:52
"This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" - The Isley Brothers - 2:51
"Let's Dance" - David Bowie - 4:06