Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011) on Netflix
PG-1320111h 47mComedyDramaRomance
Dr. Alfred Jones, a fisheries expert, is asked by consultant Harriet Chetwode-Talbot to help a wealthy Yemeni sheikh bring fly fishing to the desert. He calls the plan impossible.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.8/1069,310 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
Patricia Maxwell, the Prime Minister's press secretary, wants a positive story about Britain in the Middle East, and she chooses one about salmon fishing in Yemen. Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, who works for the sheikh's investment consultants, asks Alfred Jones, a fisheries expert, for advice. Alfred replies that Yemen cannot give salmon what they need, but his boss forces him onto the project, and his wife, Mary, points out that they need his salary. Harriet takes Alfred to Scotland to meet the sheikh, Muhammed bin Zaidi bani Tihama, who is a keen angler and knows Alfred as the maker of the Woolly Jones fishing fly. The sheikh agrees the idea may sound mad, yet he holds that fishing is a noble activity that calls for faith.
Cast
- Alex Taylor-McDowallas Edward Maxwell
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Egyptian actor Amr Waked, cast as the sheikh, had enjoyed major fame throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and English-speaking audiences may recognize him as the fundamentalist Muslim cleric in the 2005 film Syriana and from the HBO series House Of Saddam.
- The most obvious change from the novel is the press secretary: a man named Peter Maxwell on the page, and on screen a woman, played by Kristin Scott Thomas.
- None of the Yemen scenes were shot in Yemen: they were filmed in Ouarzazate in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, while the Sheikh's Scottish house was Ardverikie House and the London restaurant scene used the Oxo Tower.
