Girls Can’t Surf
Christopher Nelius’s timely Australian documentary shows women fighting for proper recognition in the world of professional surfing.
The timing of this film’s opening in British cinemas could hardly be more apt. At a time when women's football has taken a major step forward and everybody has been acclaiming The Lionesses, it is entirely appropriate that we should be invited to see a documentary centred on women’s role in another sport. It’s a work which charts the struggles of women who over the last four decades have persistently challenged the notion that surfing is not a sport for females. What is regrettable is that a subject which deserved adept treatment should be as poorly judged as this Australian documentary by Christopher Nelius.
The weaknesses of Girls Can't Surf are all the more apparent if one compares it to a documentary released in Britain just a week earlier, Blind Ambition. The subject there was quite different, but in each case the film had a narrative into which was introduced the personal history and experiences of a number of individuals. To be fair to Nelius, he had the tougher job since his narrative has to cover a much longer period as it traces changes in the surfing world from 1983 to 2019. Nevertheless, his handling of the personalities involved is sadly maladroit. We do hear from time to time from sports journalists and from leading figures in the Association of Surfing Professionals (now rebranded the World Surfing League), but, quite rightly, the main focus is on actual women surfers, a number of world champions amongst them. However, in covering this material Nelius keeps jumping back and forth from one woman to another again and again so that their stories only emerge in bits and pieces sometimes making it difficult to remember readily who is who. Some of these stories have the potential to make a strong impression, but that is reduced by the mode of presentation. Blind Ambition has far fewer contributors but creates a series of clear personal histories one at a time and we miss anything comparable here.
Admittedly, by giving priority to a general chronological history Girls Can't Surf does bring out a range of matters: they include the initial prejudice towards female competitors, financial unfairnesses with much greater prize money available for men, problems in finding sponsorship and the pattern of change over the years (changes that on occasion have included fresh setbacks). Nevertheless, the number of individuals featured and the piecemeal telling of what each of them faced limits the impact. Significantly the film gains in its later stages because less individuals feature when the film turns to a new generation of women surfers. But there are other problematical aspects here as well: the running length of 108 minutes comes to feel rather excessive and there is initially an aggressive tone prompted by pumped-up pop music which may be intended to reflect the energy of the surfers but tends instead to be off-putting.
Make no mistake about it: the fight for women to be fully and fairly recognised in the sporting world of professional surfers is material that calls out for treatment in a documentary feature. Many who feel that need will welcome Girls Can’t Surf regardless, but I just wish that a more considered approach has been brought to the table.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Wendy Botha, Jodie Cooper, Pam Burridge, Lisa Andersen, Layne Beachley, Pauline Menczer, Jolene Smith, Jorja Smith Harmon, Frieda Zamba, Rochelle Ballard, Nick Carroll, Jamie Brisick, Ian Cairns.
Dir Christopher Nelius, Pro Christopher Nelius, Screenplay Christopher Nelius and Julie-Anne DeRuvo, Ph Anna Howard, Pro Des Sherree Phillips, Ed Julie-Anne DeRuvo, Music Haydn Walker.
FINCH/Pursekey Productions/Whipped Sea/Screen Australia-Studio Soho Distribution.
108 mins. Australia. 2020. UK Rel: 19 August 2022. Cert. 12A.