Salmon Fishing in Yemen (2012)

I very much enjoyed this movie--I do love both Ewan McGregor and Kristin Scott Thomas.  They have each played a wide range of characters in a number of movies and done so with intelligence and skill.  So I was predisposed to enjoy this.

The story is that a sheik in Yemen who has a lot of disposable income and a passion for fishing wants to bring a change to Yemen.  The vehicle of change is to create a habitat that would support salmon, which in turn would mean bringing water--the classic story of irrigating the dessert.

Harriet (Emily Blunt) is the person the sheik works with to find the people who will make his dream a reality, and Fred (Ewan McGregor) is the salmon scientist--and fly fisherman--who is the brains behind what they will need to make it happen.  The British government, desperate to have some good press about British-Arab relations that doesn't involve embarrassment on their part is part of the grease that eases this project forward.

Harriet and Fred are involved with other people, and they are not people who sleep around.  So when they start to have feelings for each other it is complicated--they do not rush head long into an affair.  Instead they talk with their respective significant others and move slowly in terms of each other.  It is good relationship etiquette, which you so rarely see exemplified in either movies or books.  The project (which is a fantasy, to be sure) is not welcomed with open arms and at points is actively sabotaged by the local people.  It is a small lesson in diplomacy as well, when it finishes up--how to go about change, who to involve, and how fast to move.  Very fun movie, light, and yet you are left with things to think about.