Surfwise

Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz has been riding the waves for nigh unto three-quarters of a century now. In 1956, at the age of 45, he abandoned a career as a doctor to pursue a life dedicated almost exclusively to surfing and raising a family - and he hasn't looked back since. In fact, Doc and his family have achieved a notoriety of sorts (in surfing circles, at least) for their nonconformist, iconoclastic lifestyle, which involved all eleven of them living together in a cramped 24-foot camper trailer, avoiding any kind of formal schooling, and flitting from one beach to another in search of the perfect wave. Now, in his mid 80s, Doc, along with his wife, Juliette, and their nine kids - eight of whom are named after Biblical figures - discuss their lives and upbringings in the fascinating documentary "Surfwise" by director Doug Pray. Life literally has been a beach for these people.

The thing that strikes us most about Doc is that he is no self-conscious radical trying to make an ideological point with his life; rather, he's a fairly average guy who's honest enough to admit that he never much cared for school or the money-grubbing rat race of the corporate or business world and that he is simply much healthier and happier when in the water. And it is these values that he has chosen to instill in his children, along with a devotion to their Jewish heritage and a healthy attitude towards sex (apparently, he and his wife were less than shy about showing their affection for one another in front of the children, much to the kids' consternation at times).

But there has been a definite downside to this nonconformity as well, and the movie does not shy away from depicting it - whether it be in Doc's dictatorial, even violent, methods of maintaining his authority over the kids or in the children's understandable desire to break free of their upbringing to lead a lifestyle more in accord with social norms. And, of course, there's the resentment they've come to harbor in their later years towards a father who, by willfully choosing to separate them from the outside world, rendered them ill-equipped to function in that world once they became adults (one son laments that he could never attend medical school because he was too far behind all the other applicants in basic knowledge to successfully compete with them). The movie raises the thorny issue of just how much right a parent has to deny his children the privileges and benefits that come from being socialized into the society around them. Was Doc practicing a form of child abuse - or simple providing his kids with a rare and perhaps enviable opportunity to live life as one long summer camp? (The family does actually run a camp of sorts dedicated to teaching the fine art of surfing to crowds of eager youngsters). Even the kids themselves can't agree on the answer to that question, with some feeling the need to defend their dad and the way in which he raised them and others choosing to lash out at and lambaste him for the same reason. Yet, the children could hardly be classified as dysfunctional adults, with each of them pursuing respectable careers and raising apparently stable and healthy families. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the documentary is that it leaves it up to the viewer to formulate his own assessment of Doc. We're never pushed to take sides in the conflict.

Through Doc's story, "Surfwise" provides a fascinating look at what it means to be a family, what it means to be a parent, and why it's important to find a balance between the overindulgences of the modern world and the deprivations of a simple life, not completely ignoring one at the expense of the other. The movie ends on an upbeat note with a long overdue reunion where old wounds are healed and old grudges put aside - all in the name of Family. Which is, I suppose, as it should be.

"Surfwise" is what Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz has sought to be after he found himself--a surfer guru. A Stanford-educated doctor and observant Jew fed up with conventional life and passionate about surfing, he put two failed marriages and an ordinary medical practice behind him in 1956 and left Hawaii for Israel. He hung out with the bedouin and taught Israelis to surf, but when they wouldn't let him join the military during the Suez crisis he went to California. He and Juliette, his new wife of Mexican/Mexican heritage, first made their home in a 1950 Studebaker. Next "Doc" set them up to wander in a 24-foot camper, working part-time in clinics and focusing on family.

And I mean family. For ten years Juliette was constantly pregnant or breast-feeding and the result was nine children, eight boys and one girl, all surfers, unschooled, living on a spartan diet of no fat or sugar, sometimes down to their last quarter and crammed into the little vehicle under the iron rule of Dorian and later of David, the eldest, the "captain" who carried out his orders--but later rebelled dramatically.

No school, no fat, lots of surfing. And always the little camper rig.

"Doc," now a tanned eighty-something with an arthritic limp but great vigor of mind and body who still surfs (on his knees), for five decades lived his life in the moment for the pleasures of the waves, which he passed on to the big Paskowitz brood and eventually to many others in his surfing school which several of his sons continue. He decided, as he explains in terms too frank to give here, that his previous marriages had failed because of poor sex. This time with the help of Juliette there was good sex and plenty of it-- every evening, in fact, in the confined quarters, where the kids also had to sleep. Not a very comfortable situation for the boys, whose nomadic life and lack of school made it hard for them even to meet girls.

"Doc" had become fiercely idealistic, and his example has influenced others and hasn't been rejected by his offspring. Their life was rough, artificial, and arbitrary, and not always fair to the kids. Nonetheless they were the envy of other kids who came their way. They didn't grow up ignorant because they read a lot of books--from public libraries which would like them back. "Doc" didn't condone stealing, but penurious circumstances sometimes necessitated a little lawlessness. Big risks were taken when the young ones faced the big waves. There were a couple of serious injuries. But they didn't risk being caught by truant officers because being on the go, the family lived off the books.

There is a carelessness and speed about Pray's film that's not entirely out of keeping with the material but is frustrating--right from the start. In over a decade of previous efforts like 'Hype!,' 'Scratch,' 'Red Diaper Baby,' 'Infamy,' and 'Big Rig' the filmmaker has tended toward punk, hip hop, and off-the-mainstream cultures and the Paskowitz radicalism--sort of--fits the picture, but details of the family history, which spans half a century in images and documents, are sometimes allowed to flit by too fast to take in or digest. It is stunning to see the row of boys in wet suits or shorts, perfectly graduated in height, tan and bursting with health if sometimes (by American super-sized standards) precariously lean. Those images are clear enough. "Doc" and Juliette, who're still together, living in Hawaii, and both speak a lot on camera, produced a passel of robust young people.

In an outtake son Abraham runs down the list in order of arrival on the scene. David was captain. Jonathan was the black sheep. Abraham was the "little lover," "the soft one," Israel was "the golden boy, "as talented as he was good looking." Moses was "the Macabee, the giant." Adam was "the genius." Salvador was the artist. Navah is the strongest women he's ever met. She lives a conventional life as a suburban housewife in Encino.

It's not easy growing up with a crusader, and Paskowitz was something of a dictator, though also fiercely protective. The kids weren't prepared for the outside world, for mercantilism, jobs, traffic, living in a world governed by money. "Doc" may have done OK without it, but they couldn't. And when they found friends who got sugar doughnuts for breakfast or later who used alcohol and drugs, it was hard to go back to multigrain gruel and clean living. They were human. Adam wanted more than anything to become a doctor. But when he found out at 18 that he'd need about ten years to catch up on normal preparation for college and medical school, sadly he gave up on those ambitions. He is the one now who pledges to "keep the dream alive" and "put my kids through what Dorian put us through." One brother is a professional artist, two are singers, another is in Hollywood. Izzy/Israel who has an autistic son, helps run Surfers Healing, a program of surfing for autistic kids. Two of the other sons are involved in the family surfing school. They seem all to have done well. Some have pretty strong complaints about how their special upbringing handicapped them, at least at first, but they seem to agree that the good outweighs the bad and that what their father gave them was priceless and unique.

I say "seem," because this documentary is neither cautious nor searching. There is an unfortunate slapdash feel about it. And it's not a good thing--not at all--that some of the key information seems to be in outtakes on the DVD. There are i's that need dotting and t's that need crossing. The film concludes with a family reunion staged in Hawaii. It emerges that some of the siblings hadn't seen each other or their parents for years. Details are not forthcoming.

Generally speaking, I'm not that big on documentaries but I can of course appreciate a good one and can get intrigued by a great and interesting concept. And while it's not like this movie has an incredible subject, it still manages to be a great watch.

This is not a documentary about an all important subject or world changing event, or a legendary, influential person. It's the story of a not so very ordinary man, living a not so very ordinary live, with his wife and 9 children.

It's the story of a man, giving up basically everything he had in life and had build up with other persons, to explore himself and to do just the things he wants to do. That means surfing and traveling from beach to beach, in a camper, without a steady income or responsibilities to anyone else. He's living by his own ideologies and has his very own, sometimes very peculiar, ideas about what true happiness, wisdom is and how to achieve it all and what is good for you and not. It would be fine if he lived this life on his own but having a kid and 9 children living in a small camper with you, living by the same ideologies it's of course a bit troublesome and perhaps even irresponsible.

But it's not like the documentary is picking sides with anyone or condemns anything. Actually the things I really liked about this documentary was that for its first half it showed one big, happy family, that were really living the life and everything seemed just perfect. But then suddenly the second half started to show a far more less happy side of things and suddenly everything seemed not as cool and perfect as it did before. It shines two different lights on the same subject basically, which was an admirable and a bit of an unexpected thing for this documentary to do.

It's also a documentary that is good and pleasant to watch due to its pace. Some documentaries tend to dwell on for too long because they are so love in love with their subject. This documentary doesn't do this. It doesn't put anyone on a pedestal and actually does a rather surprising good job at giving as many people as possible an equal amount of screen time. This is a documentary about a large family, consisting out of 2 parents with 9 children but everyone gets to tell their side of things- and their own personal story, without ever making the documentary feel overlong. It tells you just enough and everything you really need to know.

Just in case you hadn't figured; a great documentary to watch!

8/10

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A look at a fascinating family, headed by a hardcore noncomformist - Dorian Paskowitz, a washed-up doctor, surfer, adventurer, and oddball who, along with his wife, created one of the weirdest families ever. The Paskowitz clan (2 parents and 9 kids!) travelled around the USA in the 1960s and 70s, surfing, just barely scraping by, not going to school, and having legendary adventures. Eventually they kind of settled down and opened a surfing school. This vivaciously edited documentary shows both the good and the bad, the joys but also the pains of growing up in a brilliant, loony environment. As cool as the surfing and endless summers must have been, many of the boys (and they were mostly boys - only 1 daughter in this litter) ended up at loose ends, butting heads with each other and with the world.

After, "Crumb", "Capturing The Friedmans", and to a much lesser extent, "The Devil And Daniel Johnston", I assumed I had seen my fair share of dysfunctional documentary families, but the Paskowitz also known as the "First Family Of Surfing", maybe the new heavy weights.

Assume for a second you father is a Jewish Stanford educated Dr., President of the medical association for the island of Hawaii, who has a mental breakdown/breakthrough...gives up his possessions, and moves to Isreal to live off the land. Here he introduces surfing to the 'Holy Land", and is in turn, taught the finer things in life, such as the application and enjoyment of Cunnilingus (an event which Dr. P claims "completely changed his life".) Dr. P, decides to abandon the pursuit of money or financial security, live in his van with his wife, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and surf. Dr. P, has 9 children who he raises in such a Camper.

The family is something of a surfing Partriges of the 70's, and are seen as a symbol of freedom, escape, and adventure to just about everyone they meet. Of course the kids are miserable, desperate to join the real world, which there father forbids them involvement with. . They listen to their parents have loud energetic sex, every single night, separated by a bed sheet. They are forbidden to have any formal education(one actually wants to be a DR.). At one point a family photo is on screen, everyone out in the water and smiling, and one brother says, "Adams bleeding in this picture actually, he didn't want to be in it. Dad made him". Which is the movie itself in microcosm.

More on that latter....