Documentary ‘Surfwise’ follows one man’s wild pursuit of happiness

Sometime in the mid-1950s, Dorian Paskowitz, MD, had a revelation. He was at the peak of his career (Stanford graduate, president of the American Medical Association in Hawaii, asked to run for governor) but felt horrible about himself and his life. He just wanted to go surfing.

So he quit the rich life, took a pilgrimage to Israel, had sex with women all over the world (he believed sexual inadequacy was central to his misery), married a California girl, sired eight sons and one daughter, and hauled them all over the world in a 24-foot trailer. They surfed every day, didn’t go to school, and occasionally almost died: Moses, son number five, nearly perished from a torn colon when a surfboard fin jammed itself up his ass off a remote beach in Mexico, several hours from the nearest hospital.

Did the Paskowitz children grow up emancipated or abused? It’s hard to say and Surfwise, by documentary filmmaker Doug Pray (Scratch, Hype!), toys with the question. Doc Paskowitz was clearly an eccentric and a tyrant. He was strict with his kids’ diet and exercise, pitted them against each other, and had noisy sex in the trailer each night while the children shoved their fingers in their ears and tried to think about other things.

But, as adults, the Paskowitz children aren’t much different than their peers. One is a suburban mom. One is a graphic designer. One wants to be in the movie business. One is a cook. One runs a surf camp. One likes to paddle into the ocean, drop a hook, and let sharks and other gigantic fish pull him around. (Let’s take that as evidence of emancipation.) A few have been in shitty metal bands. (Let’s take that as evidence of abuse.) Some were estranged but, with the help of the filmmakers, have been reunited. You know, typical family stuff.

You don’t have to care about surfing to enjoy Surfwise. Pray’s documentary—cobbled together from interviews, old TV footage, and home movies—is a case study of a uniquely American eccentric who treated recreation as necessity and the beach as a frontier.

SURFWISE DIR. DOUG PRAY | RATED | AT SELECT THEATERS

Tags: documentary, dorian paskowitz, Film, Reviews, surfing, surfwise