For a relatively niche sport, surfing seems to have inspired more than its fair share of documentaries recently. Perhaps it’s not surprising — it does lend itself to dramatic imagery. Slow-motion shots of lean, wild-haired figures gliding through a roaring tube of raging blue water are always going to be more exciting than footage of someone in slacks teeing off. But in recent docs about surfing (Waveriders and Riding Giants, for example), the drama of the images fails to disguise the fact that the films have precious little to say.
Bustin’ Down the Door, however, has more substance. This story of a motley group of Aussies and South Africans who were instrumental in the birth of competitive surfing clearly takes as its model the skate pioneer film Dogtown and Z-Boys. Jump cuts abound and colour-saturated archive footage from the 1970s shows a bunch of ragged outlaws carving up the waves on Hawaii’s North Shore. The characters aren’t quite as charismatic as the Z-Boys and the editing isn’t as abrasively cool, but it does give a glimpse of how an outsider lifestyle evolved into a multibillion-dollar business.
15, 96 mins