Not a great film, but very competent

Rating: 8/10 (30 November 2009)

There are many movies which proudly pronounce the magic of rock 'n roll, but let's accept it, not all of them are good movies in the traditional sense.Although I liked the music, attitude and message from films like Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Detroit Rock City or Rock and Roll High School, I cannot defend them as authentic good cinema.Fortunately, we also have gems like Almost Famous, 24 Hour Party People or A Hard Day's Night, which are brilliant cinematographic works which proudly take the flag of rock and wave it with a lot of enthusiasm and conviction.Even though I would consider The Boat That Rocked inferior to the films mentioned in the second group, I liked its energy, cast and enthusiasm very much.What makes this film not to be great are two elements: the narrative feels a bit diffuse on some moments and I think some moments are a bit forced.However, that did not avoid me to enjoy this film pretty much.
The Boat That Rocked portrays an important moment in the 60's, when many bands and artists appeared in the UK as an answer to the North American rock 'n roll movement; all that originated the "English invasion", one of the most important movements of popular music during the 20th century.However, in 1966, while the popularity of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Cream and other groups was spreading across the world, they were practically censored in the UK, because commercial radio stations practically ignored their existence.It was then when many intrepid businessmen decided to satisfy the music demand by the only possible way: pirate radio stations (which did not have an official permission) which transmitted all kind of rock from boats which were anchor in the international waters from the North Sea.That did not please to the British governors very much, but the listeners received the transmissions with enthusiasm.I think The Boat That Rocked portrays that period in History very well.
Director and screenwriter Richard Curtis used in here a similar technique to the one he used on his great movie Love Actually: instead of telling a unified and cohesive story, he decided to show us a series of bullets with subjects in common, showing us many characters as the protagonists of brief stories which do not say very much individually, but which on the whole, they integrate a rich and very interesting tapestry of emotions, events and situations.Besides, the actors show enormous enthusiasm, energy and conviction on their characters.It would be impractical to mention every one of them, but I will mention that everyone are simply perfect on their roles.
As I said on the first paragraph, I liked this movie pretty much, and I recommend it with confidence, but with the warning that it should not be expected a rigid and generic succession of events, but a collection of anecdotes whose function is not repeating "the truth", but evoking the feelings, values and energy of a time.