Pirate Radio Literally Rocks
“It’s ten o’clock at night. The dull dudes on the planet are sitting in their slippers and sipping their Sherries. But the people who love to rock and to roll are ready to ride the rocking rollercoaster once more.
“You are listening to Radio Rock, and I am The Count, and I’m counting you in as we count down to ecstasy and rock ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT.” – The Count
In times tinted gray by a government’s disdain towards rock music, the Britain of the 1960’s seemed to be a place dull beyond imagination. People had only news and classical music as respite from their boring lives. The 2 hours of rock music were heavenly but short-lived. Yet from within the darkness, one ray of light shone through, captivating audiences all over Britain with 24-hours broadcasting of rock music every day, defying the protests of the British government. This is the premise of the film, Pirate Radio.
Seeing the title, the thing that immediately comes to mind is the assumption that rotten people are messing with one of our most essential means of communication. And yet the film isn’t about some mindless sabotage plan or some dastardly scheme to hypnotize the world through rock music. In fact, it is about something for the good of society, to bring rock to people who need uplift in spirits and to bring colour to a gray nation.
The film details the antics of a motley crew of rogue deejays and their efforts to keep broadcasting the rock music to the public whilst defying government minister Kenneth Branagh’s consistent efforts to shut down their station, Radio Rock. Quite a handful, but the cast of Pirate Radio manages to do all this with hilarious results.
The film begins by introducing us to Carl (Tom Sturridge), a boy sent by his mother to live with his godfather upon the ship which doubles as a radio broadcasting station. Then it moves on to introduce the rest of the cast, including Rhys Ifans as Gavin, “King of The Airwaves” and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as The Count, an egoistic American DJ and Jack Davenport as the strangely named civil servant named Twatt. The cast is too varied to be completely listed, but every single one played their part very well.
The reason for this may lie in the fact that the film’s director, Richard Curtis, sent them to “boat camp” before filming the movie. The actors were made to live and rehearse on the ship on which they would be performing. Cast and crew slept in small cabins and rehearsed throughout the day. In the evenings, they would eat, drink and play darts. During the camp, the actors really bonded and got the opportunity to meet ex-pirate DJ Johnnie Walker as well as Radio 2’s Chris Evans, to study various forms of broadcasting.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays The Count, turned out to be a natural DJ. Due to scheduling commitments he started on the production several weeks after shooting began. This meant that he had only one hour to learn how to be a DJ. However, with his reputation of taking risks and constantly pushing himself to do better, he not only managed to play the part, but excelled at it.
However, the film garnered mixed reviews from different sources partly due to the broadness of the film, including some sexual references and coarse language. In fact, Pirate Radio is an attempt to salvage the failure or the first film, The Boat That Rocked. The changes included shortening of screen time among other things. Still, many sites have a positive take on this film. The strength of this film is definitely in the soundtrack, which includes many songs from the bygone era of the 1960’s from The Beatles, Rolling Stones and other bands you may have forgotten. The immortal spirit of rock is demonstrated clearly both in the soundtrack and in the film and it is a rewarding experience for any movie-goer in my opinion. In other words, IT ROCKS, literally!
nice post. thanks.