The Still Point (Taki Bibelas, 2011): France

Reviewed by John Starr. viewed at metro 4 theaters, Santa Barbara.

Directed by Taki Bibales, The Still Point is an artistic look at the surfing world and how surfers and human beings interact with the ocean. The Film focused mainly on the nature of the ocean and how it connects with humans on a spiritual level. The philosophy of the movie was all about how people change by purely interacting with the energy of the ocean.

The movie was born from a T. S. Eliot poem but Taki gives the film a life all of its own, with the insight and philosophy from some of the pioneers of surfing. To watch and see how these people who have spent most of their lives in the water have been affected not only emotionally but spiritually by the energy of the ocean is truly amazing.

The movie was less about surfing and more about being one with the ocean.  All the surfers in the film had a real deep philosophy on their connection to the ocean and how they have formed a bond with the waves and the water.  Watching these people talk about the beauty of the ocean and their bond with it was like watching some one talk about a religious experience.

The film and the surfers in the film talked a lot about being one with the ocean and about the moment when they reached that point, the still point. The director and other surfers in the film talk about this moment or point as a moment in time when everything becomes nothing when motion becomes still. It is a point when one is connected to the ocean and every thing else around them is forgotten for the moment.

The concept was hard to grasp but you can see by watching the different surfers in the film talk about the ocean and their connection to it, that there was this energy of the ocean that they all believed in and had felt. It was an energy that connected them to the ocean in a spiritual way.

The film shows the viewer how powerful the spiritual energy of the ocean is through the testimony of these surfers who have spent their lives immersed in it.

The film touched on a very deep but basic connection that we as humans have with the ocean you can see it on a little kids face when he is playing in the tides or in the movement of a surfer as he glides across the face of a wave. Just being around or near the ocean brings people a simple joy. You don’t have to surf to have felt it. You can feel it just by looking out over the water or smelling the ocean breeze as it passes over your face.

The act of Surfing in perfect harmony, with the energy of a wave, becomes a point of perfect balance when everything turns to nothing.