Rarely do comedies vibrate with such social depth, emotional resonance, and originality. But with The Fisherman, writer-director Martinson achieves this feat.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
Zoey Martinson’s Ghanaian comedy, The Fisherman (2024), is a film that cares about many things. At its heart is a reflection on the longevity and fragility of dreams, captured through a mismatched quartet chasing a dream amid changing tides. But around that story are several concerns—the fear of change, the loss of culture, intergenerational tensions, class divides, and even environmental degradation.
At the centre is Atta Oko Sackey (Ricky Adelayitar), an ageing fisherman in a Ghanaian fishing village. The film opens with him sharing a folktale about the sea as humanity’s original home, but he’s talking to a group of students who insist on science and refuse to take him seriously. Their reliance on smartphones offends him, an irritation that compounds as he finds himself increasingly surrounded by people abandoning the old ways for the new.
This cultural conflict rears its head in an uglier way when his lifelong dream of becoming the community’s boat chief gets dashed as the outgoing boat chief (Fred Nii Amugi) overrides the election results to install the chief’s barely experienced son (Nathaniel “Ajeezay” Mensah). Atta Oko has spent his life waiting to be boat chief, only to be passed over in favour of a young man chosen for his supposed ability to modernise traditional fishing, which is itself being threatened by illegal commercial fishing.
Even worse, Atta Oko is merely named “employee of the month” and rewarded with a single fish. Yet, with every disappointment comes a blessing. The fish turns out to be not only a rare species but an actual talking fish (voiced by Abdulazeem Dulo Harris) that only Atta Oko can hear for most of the film.
Meanwhile, the old chief’s gender non-conforming daughter, Shasha (Endurance Dedzo), a nautical engineer excluded from the fishing business because of her gender, shows up at Atta Oko’s door with two young fishermen, Kobina and Emmanuel (played by William Lamptey and Kiki-Romi, respectively), with a pitch to buy their own boat.
It takes some convincing, but Atta Oko quickly comes around. And he and his sardonic fish join the trio on a quest to raise funds in the staggering but grounded city of Accra, where Atta Oko’s daughter, Naa Oko (Adwoa Akoto), has reinvented herself and her background to fit her class aspirations, to her father’s dismay.
The Fisherman can feel shockingly absurd in its initial moments, but it easily settles into itself, with Martinson promptly establishing the world of the film and refusing to explain away its peculiarities beyond what is obvious on the face of it. A talking fish exists in this film; take it as it is. The fish provides some wildly inappropriate yet humorous commentary; take that as well. And where the fish comes from, or the source of the message it claims to have, is beside the point.
Of course, the talking fish does have an essence beyond its vague message and comic role. That other characters generally cannot hear the fish creates additional, albeit funny, stakes: in the wrong hands, Atta Oko’s talking fish can easily become barbecue. But it also speaks to the mental state of the old fisherman who may very well be losing his mind as he struggles to navigate the loss of his dream, his fear of obsolescence, and the rapid erosion of the cultural environment around which his identity has been built.
That crisis of identity, also reflected through Shasha and Naa Oko, feeds into the film’s multiple themes, from the conflict between tradition and modernism to the friction between generations. As a result, clashes are constant in this film, but the clashes never feel overwhelming to watch, even when they overwhelm the characters themselves.
While it is not difficult to get caught up in the comedy and the sometimes excessive talkativeness of the characters, especially the talking fish, The Fisherman keeps its human drama front and centre. That its fantastical premise is steeped in overtly realistic themes makes for a fascinating contrast, made even more interesting by the considerable balance of the seriousness of the film’s subjects with its plentiful humour.
Plus, this is generally not a film that takes sides, except in its brief condemnations of illegal commercial fishing. As far as the tradition-versus-modernity debate goes, The Fisherman critiques both worlds, arguing against absolutism and in favour of finding a reasonable middle ground. After all, where there is benefit, there is also burden.
Rarely do comedies vibrate with such social depth, emotional resonance, and originality. But with The Fisherman, writer-director Martinson achieves this feat. It is a remarkable feature debut that announces Martinson as a storyteller who is adept at juggling important and contrasting ideas in an accessible way. Well-shot and decently acted, The Fisherman runs under two hours at a pace that mirrors the film’s buoyant tone. It could be tighter, but who is complaining?
Rating: 4/5
*The Fisherman premiered in 2024 at the Venice International Film Festival, where it became the first Ghanaian film officially selected to screen at the festival. After screenings across several international film festivals, the film opened in Ghanaian cinemas on 19th September 2025 and subsequently screened at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) 2025, where it won Best Director.
Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku is a writer, film critic, TV lover, and occasional storyteller writing from Lagos. She has a master’s degree in law but spends most of her time watching, reading about and discussing films and TV shows. She’s particularly concerned about what art has to say about society’s relationship with women. Connect with her on X @Nneka_Viv