Surfwise

Director: Doug Pray
Starring: Dorian Paskowitz
Year: 2007

Summary: The inspiring and tumultuous story of 85-year old surfer, health advocate and sex guru, Dr. Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, his wife Juliette, and their nine children who were all home-schooled and raised in a small camper on the beach, where they surfed and had to adhere to the strict diet and lifestyle of animals in the wild.

Comments: The story is extraordinary on its own -- an 11-member family living in camper on the beach in the 1960s and 1970s. But is more than that. The film is very revealing about the relationships between a father and his children, and raises some interesting and fundamental questions about child rearing. At the end of the film, whether you think Doc is a hero or a tyrant, you have to respect him for following his own path. The film does have a Jewish angle. Doc Paskowitz, who was raised in a religious Jewish home, insisted that his children share his own brand of jewish identity. Interesting fact: Doc Paskowitz is considered to the father of surfing in Israel, after introducing the sport there in the early 1960s.




Recommendation: Highly Recommended