God Went Surfing with the Devil (Alexander Klein, 2010): USA

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.  Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

  What is the easiest way to make friends with Palestinians, if you are an Israeli living near the Gaza Strip?  If you’re cool, you share your surfboard.

God Went Surfing with the Devil is a documentary which chronicles an effort by Israeli surfer Arthur Rashkovan and American surfer Matt Olsen to share surfboards with Arab-Israelis, especially those living in the Gaza Strip.

Rashkovan is a co-founder of Surfing 4 Peace, a grass-roots organization that attempts to bridge the political and religious gap between neighbors who share a common love of surfing.

In 2007 news circulated within the Israeli surf community, that there were a group of Palestinian surfers in Gaza that shared battered old surfboards, purchased prior to Gaza’s boarders being sealed off.  That same year, Israeli and American surfers were able to get a dozen boards into Gaza, for their Palestinian surf bros.

In 2008 Olsen, an American who was raised part-time in Israel, brought with him 23 boards and surf gear, determined to deliver everything himself.  Filmmaker Klein and a crew of 3, followed Olsen’s attempts to first get the gear through customs, then delivered to his address in Israel, and finally into Gaza.

After weeks of waiting just for the boards to arrive, Olsen then had to secure permission to enter Gaza.  He makes connections and is finally permitted to enter, but without the boards – the Israeli government views the boards as a possible hostile weapon.  He did however manage to smuggle in rash guards, wax and boardshorts.

Included in the small cast is Mofeed, a pre-teen Arab-Israeli, who is being mentored by his brother-in-law Abedullah, in the fine art of surfing and staying out of trouble.  There are a group of these young kids that just want to surf all day.

When Olsen, Klein and the rest of the crew are held for questioning by Hamas, the cameraman secretly leaves his camera rolling for all of us to witness in anticipation.  After giving this likable group of guys the third degree, they are actually given an apology by their detainer and invited out to dinner.

Highly entertaining, with beautiful surf shots that blend well with the beauty of these goodwill ambassadors who bring an important message to the surfing community as well as to the rest of us – when you share similar interests, the differences seem minute.

In the film, Rashkovan wears a shirt that states “God will surf with the Devil, if the waves are good.”