180 South (Chris Malloy, 2010): USA

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

  In 1968 Yvon Chouinard, founder of outfitting store Patagonia in Ventura, CA followed his buddy Doug Tompkins on a quest to the Patagonia mountains in South America.  Both Chouinard and Tompkins (founder of The North Face gear) loaded up their bus with surfboards and climbing gear and drove the 5,000 miles down to Chile.

In 2005 filmmaker Chris Malloy travelled to Patagonia with Chouinard and set about making plans to film down there. 180 South  follows fellow climber and surfer Jeff Johnson, on his quest to repeat Yvon and Doug’s journey down to Chile, but this time by boat.

Filming started in 2007 which finds Johnson trying to catch up to a friend’s boat somewhere off the coast of Mexico.  Johnson first experiences a bout with seasickness, and later the boat loses its main mast and becomes shipwrecked off  Easter Island.  There the crew which includes another Malloy brother, is able to repair the damage and take on another fellow surfer named Makohe, a female Rapa Nui native.  Eventually they meet up with Tompkins and Chouinard, and also Timmy O’Neill a record-breaking climbing expert.

Tompkins and Chouinard, both environmentalist, have spent a great deal of their time and resources trying to protect the Patagonia wilderness.  Through Tompkins’ efforts, 200,000 acres of forested land in Chile have ballooned to over 2 million acres of protected land known as Corcovado National Park.  This is the area we find our crew attempting to climb.

Malloy paces his film in a slow methodical manner, almost meditative and hypnotic.  He captures the beauty of the rugged terrain along with the beckoning of the waves – where Johnson takes the longest ride of his life.  For those that enjoy a surf doc with a meaningful sub-plot, this film does not disappoint.

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Published:
02.16.10 / 8pm
Category:
Documentary, Films, Santa Barbara Film Festival 2010