In autumn 2021, thousands of dead and dying crabs and lobsters began washing up on the beaches of north-east England, and fishing grounds worked by families for generations all but collapsed. Stan Rennie, a veteran Hartlepool fisherman, becomes a reluctant campaigner alongside dozens of others who form a fishing collective to demand answers. Government agencies point to a natural algal bloom; some scientists and many locals suspect a toxic chemical disturbed by dredging in the Tees as old industrial sites are cleared for a freeport and a new deep-water quay. Filming in pubs, on boats and at community meetings, Finlay – returning to the coast where she grew up – follows the campaign all the way to a parliamentary committee.
Review:
Critics called it a wonderfully observed, deeply compassionate film. Finlay's fly-on-the-wall approach earns her the trust of the community, and the fishermen's anger – at politicians, at Brexit and at being ignored as northerners far from London – plays out on screen with real force. Stan Rennie is a memorable central figure whose dry humour lightens the gloom. The film works both as an investigation into pollution, power and possible political betrayal and as a portrait of a close-knit, determined community, and its refusal to offer a neat answer to what caused the disaster reflects a dispute that remains unresolved.
Jeanie Finlay's tenth feature. Her earlier documentaries include Seahorse, Your Fat Friend and Game of Thrones: The Last Watch.
