Girls Can't Surf

I am not a surfer, in fact most of my surfing knowledge comes from the beach blanket movies of the 1960s. And the lyrics of the Beach Boys songs. In other words, not much!

"Every time you lose, it feels like getting sacked from a job." That was the sentiment of one of the girls, the lady surfers featured in this documentary were not like the 1950s and 1960s California surfer girl depicted in movies like "Gidget." They were tough and competitive, they wanted to be the best, they each wanted to be World Champion and many of them were.

Traditionally big time professional surfing had been the strict domain of the men, but in the 1980s there was an uprising of female surfers, most from Australia, South Africa, and the US. With great resistance from many male surfers and sponsors they managed to forge their way towards equal treatment. It was a hard road but they got there in 2019.

That much of the film is from older, lower quality footage only adds to the effect and the identification with a time roughly 40 years ago. But what really makes the documentary special are the interviews with the ladies in present time, recalling what was going on or how they felt in specific competitions.

And a bonus, we get to see what several are doing today, one runs a surfing school, another is a school bus driver. Real people not too different from the rest of us, but they were the pioneers.

See it if you can find it.