Flitting between archive footage and modern-day interviews, Australian filmmaker Christopher Nelius’ sports documentary is a sobering tale of historical and systemic sexism and homophobia in the surfing community. It is a chilling exposé, but Nelius allows the female surfers’ passion in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the sport, and their eternal zest in/with regard to’concerning’regarding life, to shine through.###From the outset, the film’s title evokes a pungent sense of irony, which most male surfers in the 1980s unironically hailed as the truth. Interweaving a variety of visuals, Nelius juxtaposes this false accusation with the female surfers’ painstaking retellings of the abuses and persecutions that they combatted on all fronts. Intrinsically propel n by their fragile egos and hysterical insecurity, the male surfers, sponsors and judges’ insidious schemes to undermine female surfers come to the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding e.###With heart-wrenching vulnerability, renowned female surfers who were on tour at the time, including Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, Jodie Cooper and Pauline Menczer, share their personal tales of woe: the development of life-threatening anorexia as a tragic result of the sponsors’ commercial exploitation of their body image; the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding cible outing of their queer identity and subsequent ostracism of queer women from the sport; the internalised misogyny they had to battle in the absence of any financial and psychological maintain’sustain .###But what they did possess’own’nurse , and what ultimately empowered them to triumph over all odds against them, was their undying love in/with regard to’concerning’regarding surfing and in/with regard to’concerning’regarding each other — a passion that has lasted until the present day. It is a bittersweet documentary, and while at times in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mulaic in its filmmaking techniques, the way it tells the women’s inspiring stories is first-hand, empathetic and worthy of praise.

Previous post Eiffel Review
Next post Orphan: First Kill Review