Driftwood (Peter Trow, 2012) USA

Reviewed by Mitchell Schena. Screened at Metropolitan 4, Santa Barbara.

A documentary that follows a few professional paddle surfers to exotic and beautiful lands all over the world to catch the perfect waves, interact with different and foreign people and getting a taste of many different types of cultures. The film begins focusing the camera on a simple piece of driftwood that moves ever so gently with the ocean waves moving it up and down shore kind of representing the relaxation and feeling of peace one gets from simply being in the presence of the ocean. The journey begins as the crew travels over to Sri Lanka where they lucky enough to be just in time for one of their rare national holidays. They  join the natives in celebration as everyone has work off and enjoys the beauty of the beach. Allowing many of the children and men to try out the paddle boards, many of the Sri Lanka natives had trouble standing up on the board for very long.

After a short stay, the surfers packed up their belongings and headed to Iceland where the temperature called for special suits and gear to handle the freezing temperatures that the water would offer. With such beautiful camera shots and views of the oceans, mountains, and scenery we get an amazing experience of the trip these individuals are experiencing. Moving on to distant lands such as Nova Scotia, Columbia, and Canada the trip ends up concluding with a interesting type of surf known as “river surfing” which was a sport new to my eyes. Professional surfer Shaun Tomson narrates this expedition and created an amazing feeling of adventure and interest in these amazing and incredible places.

With shots literally 5 feet away from 30 foot or longer whales, and scenes capturing the pro team getting only a short length away from elephants we can get a feeling of how far away we are from home. Director Peter Trow created a not only inspiring, but heart warming documentary that displayed what can happen when you’re truly passionate about something that’s important to you, and the feeling they get when they were able to share it with those thousands of miles away.