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Indeed, the last (and best) third of the film focuses on the grown-up children and their struggles to live "real" lives.  Most of them didn't leave "home" until their early twenties, and naturally (having never been to school) they found it difficult to adjust to the real world. Some of them became pro surfers, some of them musicians and filmmakers, but all of them felt the unalterable impact of their father. Many of the children became estranged from their parents and each other, and only in the final scene of the film (a reunion in Hawaii that comes across as a convenient setup) does the family come together in some semblance of reconciliation. Indeed, even Dorian seems to come around to seeing his own mistakes by the end, recognizing how he failed his children in attempts to harness them to his ideals: "A real man," concludes Dorian, "is capable of controlling himself before he controls his children."

Eight of the nine surfing kids join dad (left)

Surfwise is a compelling film, and at times emotionally affecting; but occasionally it feels a little all-over-the-place in terms of themes and ideas. The narrative is structured in a pretty straightforward documentary fashion (talking head interviews, great archival footage and pictures, etc.), but the take-away message is a bit harder to pin down. Are we to take this as just an isolated instance of a crazy, bohemian family? Or is this a representative of how messed-up all of our families actually are? There are a lot of unanswered questions too. I was interested to know more about the Jewish aspect of the Paskowitz family, and how it played in to their collective identity and psychoses. A stronger development of some of the children's characters (granted, there are nine!) also would have been nice.

Overall, though, Surfwise does what a documentary should do: it investigates a specific curiosity of existence (in this case, a very curious family) and attempts to understand it. When so many documentaries today seem concerned only with arguing a point, it's nice to see something like this which seeks only to reveal.

>Talk About It

1. What do you think motivated Dorian to run his family the way that he did?
2. What are the pros and cons of raising a family "outside of the influence" of the larger culture? How is the Paskowitz family similar to any typical family that homeschools its kids? How is it different?
3. Who is God for Dorian, and how does that affect the way he lives his life?

The Family Corner

Surfwise is rated R for language and some sexual material. There's quite a bit of profanity and some very frank discussions of sexuality. At one point we hear Dorian recount his "sexual awakening" and describe a stretch of time when he slept with more than 25 women and rated them on a scale of 1-100. His very detached, biological approach to the human body and sexuality comes up frequently in the film, and may be considered offensive.

Photos © Copyright Magnolia Films

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