SURFING, AS we know it from movies, has been a quintessentially American pursuit; as a rite of passage in teen pictures packaged as pop star vehicles in the 1960s ( Blue Hawaii, which put Elvis Presley on a board; Ride the Wild Surfwith Fabian); as the bond that links three close male friends in the powerful John Milius drama Big Wednesday(1978); and as an outlet for heady action in Kathryn Bigelow's adrenaline-pumping Point Break.
The art of surfing was celebrated in The Endless Summer, Bruce Brown's seminal 1966 US documentary, long before anyone straddled a board off the Atlantic coast of Ireland. But as Joel Conroy's engaging documentary Waveriderspoints out, surfing was pioneered by George Freeth, the son of an Irishman and a Hawaiian woman, in the early 20th century.
Narrated by Cillian Murphy, Conroy’s film returns to Freeth’s Irish roots and cuts to the present as surfers from here and the US express the thrill of riding waves in this part of the world.
Nine-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater arrives to see why Ireland has become so popular with surfers and finds “a cold paradise”. There is Kevin Naughton, described as a “soul surfer” because he doesn’t engage in the sport for commercial gain. And, just as we assume that it’s a predominantly male preoccupation, we meet Easkey Britton, the only woman surfer featured in the film.
All the interviewees are consumed with the same one subject, and the viewer feels like a stranger, a spectator sharing their exhilaration through eavesdropping on their conversations as we are given access to this private world with its unfamiliar heroes, traditions and jargon.
The visual appeal of surfing to film-makers has been evident for decades, and Waveriders, dexterously photographed by Daniel Trapp, captures scenes of striking grace and beauty, from shots of a dedicated trio entering the sea before sunrise to the breathtaking final sequence in which four men ride the biggest swell ever surfed in Ireland.
Directed by Joel Conroy Gen
cert, lim release, 88 min★★★
