‘The Fisherman’: A Whimsical Clash Between Tradition and Modernity in Ghana (NBO Film Festival Review)

There are very few films that manage to be faithful servants to opposing ideologies. Zoey Martinson’s 2024 feature debut, The Fisherman, does exactly that – waging an eternal battle between past and present in a comedic yet heartfelt fashion, in a slapstick delight all the way from Ghana.

The film follows an elderly fisherman, Atta Oko (Ricky Adelayitar), who, after being forced into retirement, finds himself on a wacky adventure that takes him – along with an ambitious young trio from his village and a talking fish with refined taste – to Accra in search of money to buy a new boat and form their own boat crew after Atta is passed over on his lifelong dream of becoming a boat chief.

I call The Fisherman a faithful servant to two masters because, at the start, it shows us the world as Atta knows it – the old world. The film opens with sweeping shots of Ghana’s coastline, acquainting us with a fishing community threatened by commercial fishing that is outselling and driving local fishermen out of business.

On the other hand, we also see the world as it is, the one Atta has refused to adapt to. His peers are moving forward with it, like the market women who dance on TikTok to promote their businesses and “connect” with young people, while he stubbornly wants none of it. Atta wrestles with technology, with modernity and urbanisation, and what they have done to the world he once knew.

The young trio who accompanies Atta to Accra – Shasha (Endurance Dedzo), the only person from the village with a degree in Nautical Science, along with Kobina (William Lamptey) and Emmanuel (Kiki Romi) – all love and respect the old man and his idiosyncrasies, but they can’t understand why he refuses to embrace new ways of doing things. His willingness to meet them halfway and try out a few of their ideas, like seeking out a bank loan or attempting to make money through Texas Hold ’Em poker, supplies the film with many of its zingiest moments.

At the heart of The Fisherman is also Koobi, the talking fish that spouts witty one-liners, a lot of them deliciously inappropriate. Only Atta can hear what he says. And while Koobi may at times seem as though the script designed him as a stand-up comedian, he still manages to carry a lot of pith throughout the story. Will he get roasted? Perhaps fried? Will Atta lose his precious talking fish before he relays the important “message” he was meant to give the old man? The audience holds its breath in drama-induced anticipation between comedy-earned guffaws.

The journey to Accra reunites Atta with his prodigal daughter, Naa (Adwoa Akoto), who since coming to the city where she’s working to make partner at a law firm, has refashioned herself as a modern city woman – Liz. She’s a daughter Atta barely recognises, a betrayal of the person she once was – living her modern life in her big house with a man outside marriage. The daughter he remembers used to steal his fish to rescue them and return them to the ocean. The one he meets in the city asks him to lie about who he is to please her wealthy boyfriend’s family. Their strained father–daughter relationship is explored with such delicacy that by the end, you gain appreciation for both perspectives.

The old world in The Fisherman is quaint and sober, while the modern world, filled with cityscapes and noise, is humorous and largely unthreatening. This makes the inevitable passing of the torch in the third act all the more heartwarming, because the future it gestures toward feels hopeful rather than harsh. And while the film critiques the modern world for its erosion of culture and environmental degradation, the old world isn’t spared either; the film shows it in all its flaws and beauty. One of the film’s most poetic moments finds Atta and his friend, another elderly man retiring from his position as boat chief, sitting by the beach, looking out to sea and recalling their childhood. As they play with the water, the film cuts between their present and past selves in a moving visual echo. The Fisherman boasts evocative moments like these, peppered throughout the film.

The dialogue is delightfully wacky, clearly written to evoke laughter. For a cynical viewer like myself, it might at first feel “cringey,” but the earnestness of the story will have you chuckling and smirking in no time. It wins you over. Some of Koobi’s jokes are too dry or too frequent for my taste, yet he remains an anchor in Atta’s journey.

Ultimately, The Fisherman feels first like a recognition, then a reconciliation between past and present for its protagonist and his family. The ending is more emotionally satisfying because it honours the core of this ethos. There is no winner, of course. There can’t be.

There is only recognition and acceptance.

The Fisherman screened at the 2025 NBO Film Festival that runs until 26 October.

Check out our full coverage of the 2025 NBO Film Festival here.

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