Originally posted on April 12, 2012 by Clara Bow

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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a charming bit of nothing much. It has some political satire, romantic comedy, and social critique, but not enough of any one quality to create a cohesive whole. Though it largely fails as an interesting movie, it succeeds in bringing us some unique female roles.

Harriet Chetworth-Talbot (Emily Blunt) seeks to further the goal of her client, Sheikh Muhammed (Amr Waked) by hiring fisheries expert, Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) to create a salmon run in the Yemen. Despite Dr. Jones’ misgivings she convinces him to head the project. She manages to do this, not with her feminine wiles, her cleavage or her short skirt, but with logic, facts, and perseverance. Throughout the movie she continues to be a complex character, in many ways deviating from the patriarchy compliant female role.

Kristin Scott Thomas is cast as Patricia Maxwell, the head of public relations for the British Prime Minister. This role, designed to carry the political satire portion of the film, is terribly one dimensional, but it proves to be an interesting and unusual dimension for a female character. In her pursuit for positive press, she is agressive, blunt, devious, manipulative and endlessly opportunistic. It is not until she puts the British government’s support behind the salmon fishing project that it becomes viable. When the project fails as a positive public relations piece on its face, she spins it again and again.

And what of the Yemini women in a movie where a good portion of the action occurs in the Yemen? They are virtually non-existant. There is a 10 second scene where a Yemeni woman covered head to toe except for her eyes, serves our lead characters water. From what we can see of her face her make-up is flawless, her eyes are darkened with kohl. She is beautiful and silent.

Although the men in the movie have the seemingly important roles of financing and designing the project, it is the women who are most often shown to be doing something. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is mediocre as a movie, but receives rather high marks for feminism (for the white women).