Big vs Small

I knew nothing about surfing beforehand. I enjoyed learning about it, and seeing how women had overcome stereotypes to compete alongside men in surfing competitions. The discussion of facing danger made me think. They talked about going metres under water and not being able to tell if your eyes are open or closed. They said how they learn to detach their minds from the pain. This was all good stuff.

In the last third, they didn't have many new ideas. One mentioned how surfing had become her whole life and she forgot about seeing her family. I saw a cheque for 1400 Euros in a competition. That made me think: that's not enough to live off for a year, so how does she sustain her lifestyle the rest of the time? And what about those who do not win the prize money? The documentary was missing any discussion of what sort of person goes into surfing, but I got the impression that the participants were all from wealthy backgrounds. I'm sure that those from poorer backgrounds also want to test how much pain they can endure, but they probably need to join the armed forces to do that.

If you expect to see a documentary about big wave surfing, forget it. This is all about the transformation of Joana Andrade to prepare herself to surf Nazaré's waves, which frankly it's 1 hour of self praising and an attempt to elevate her to a heroine status. I kept rolling my eyes every single minute with clichés after clichés. Joana is to be admired by her courage to surf those waves, however she is not the woman that surfed the largest wave in Nazaré... so, why make a documentary about her? You really feel the producers fought to keep it interesting, but failed constantly. I don't understand the point of this documentary, someone pushed this one really hard.

This documentary shows the incredible power, strength and resilience that can be found in the sea. The power to face childhood trauma through ice diving and being in mother ocean and be a total badass is awe inspiring. Beautiful shot, produced and delivered. This will be shown for years to come! I know I will be sharing it with the surf community around me. Please watch.