Director: Doug Pray (Big Rig, Hype!)
Writer: Doug Pray
Producers: Graydon Carter, Tommy Means, Jonathan Paskowitz, Matt Weaver
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 93 min

Hawaii, waves, crystal clear water, sandy beaches, Body Glove, salt, lean and healthy bodies; those are the images that come to mind when I think of surfing. Never having surfed, I always thought of the sport as an offshoot of skateboarding or snowboarding, a sport for the wild, the thrill seekers; a few on the edge of society. That’s obviously not the case. The sport is not only older than the others mentioned but like its predecessors it too has grown into a respected and highly competitive arena.

From the title, one could safely assume that Doug Pray’s new documentary is a look at surfing and in a way, it is. Surfwise introduces us outsiders to Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, an 85 year old man who still surfs daily. I say outsiders because in the surfing world, Paskowitz is a well known name. Paskowitz was once a good Jewish man, respected doctor and married with two children, but in the mid 1950’s, something changed. He decided he wasn’t happy with his apparently perfect life so he made a drastic change leaving it all behind to become a professional surfer. But this is surfing before the modern competitions which feature large monetary prizes and sponsorship deals so Doc was living out of his car, driving from wave to wave enjoying life and the one thing that made him truly happy: surfing. Until he met Juliette at which point his life came to include babies, lots of babies (9 to be exact). One would think that this would change his life a little but in truth it changed very little. The Paskowitz’s upgraded from a little car to a 24’ camper but for the most part Doc and his family’s life continued to be an endless chase of the wave.

Can you imagine it for a moment? Eleven people crammed into a 24’ motor home? I’m not sure what would be worse: 9 small children or 9 teenagers.

The clan lived by Doc’s strict rules: eat healthy, don’t do anything a monkey wouldn’t do, and surf. Surf your heart out. The family gained notoriety and over the years, the attention of the media (and the scrutiny of the public). How could a man allow his children to live like this? No full time job, no school, living out of a box, moving from place to place and with children that, sometimes, went hungry? In Doc’s mind, this was all part of good living but was it fair to inflict his strong beliefs on his children? These are only a few of the questions that Surfwise brings up. Pray’s film, though about the “first family of surfing”, is really a look at family dynamics and in looking at this unique family, we see some of the issues that plague all families.

It’s an interesting approach and for the most part, it works. From the children we gain an understanding of what it was like to live by the rules of a dictator-like father, the hardships of living like scavengers but above all, the bond of a family. Though there is some obvious discomfort and even dislike between the various children and their parents, at the end of the day, they are still a family and as one of the children puts it: it’s better to have a broken family than not have a family at all.

Pray’s interviews and discussions paint Doc as a strong, wilful individual who asserts his beliefs on his children and the children themselves support that view, but it also shines light on a man who is only interested in providing, in his mind, a good life for his family. Surfwise really gets at the core of what makes families tick and though the Paskowitz’s are an extreme case, the results accessible and above all universal.

Thinking about the film after the screening, it seemed that there were some obvious missed opportunities: I wanted to know more about Doc’s brother Adrian as there seemed to be more going on than we were privy to, and also a more intimate look at Juliette and Navah, the only two women in the clan of 11. I assume some of these interviews were cut for the sake of running time but I’m hopeful that they’ll be available on the eventual DVD release but on further reflection, they’re also not necessary to Pray’s story. He’s more concerned with the overall message glimpsed from the Paskowitz’s experience and the resulting documentary certainly does a great job of that.

Surfwise is engaging and entertaining throughout and leaves the viewer energized. It stumbles a little towards the end when it tries to infuse a message about health which seems tacked on but overall this stumble doesn’t detract from the fascinating and sometimes painful look at the family dynamic while being a great catalyst for conversation.

Links:
IMDb profile
Official Site
Flixster Profile for Surfwise