Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 23 March 2019
Riding the wave: Surfers grow up in touching documentary

By EDDIE PELLS or not willing — to pay to
Associated Press be the best at what they
The day surfing lost one of do.
its most beloved rabble- This is not simply a movie
rousers was the day it redis- for surfing fans, the likes
covered its soul. of which populated the
That’s one of the many fringe, action-sports land-
takeaways from “Momen- scape in the 1990s and
tum Generation,” a beau- helped make most of the
tifully melancholy docu- real-life protagonists in this
mentary that is, at its core, 2018 film (fairly) rich and
about surfers, but speaks (largely) famous.
every bit as fluently about Using decades-old foot-
friendship, loyalty and the age from surfing filmmaker
price people are willing — Taylor Steele’s voluminous

In this May 17, 2011, file photo, Kelly Slater competes in the first round of the Billabong Rio Pro
surfing competition at the Arpoador Beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Associated Press
archives, directors Jeff season-ending contest at one in this testosterone-
and Michael Zimbalist (The which Machado and Slater charged world to reckon
Two Escobars, Favela Ris- are going mano a mano in with his demons: abusive
ing) take viewers on a ride a heat that will decide who and absent parents; drug
through the waves that wins the season-long world and alcohol addiction;
starts on the North Shore championship. fraying friendships; the fall-
of Oahu, where a teenage Toward the end of the riv- out from years of hyper-
group of preternaturally tal- eting back-and-forth duel, competitiveness, the resi-
ented surfers, some of them Machado rolls out early due of which can’t forever
from broken homes, gather from a wave and gives be tamped down with a
and begin bonding. Slater, who is waiting there, friendly postgame beer.
They are not-so-gently a possibly ill-timed high-five “Who won?” Taylor Knox
schooled by the rabble- that seems to indicate all says in the movie, possibly
rouser, Todd Chesser. is forgiven, no matter who realizing how late he was in
Chesser is a daredevil, an wins. solving the ultimate ques-
older-brother figure who That high-five changed tion that stares down pro
throws these boys in with a lot. The movie goes into surfers. “To me, it’s the one
the sharks, while keeping a detail about the whats and having the most fun.”
sharp pin prick at the ready whys, but suffice it to say That’s not an uncommon
to slap down anyone who that nearly a quarter-cen- refrain in the action-sports
shows even the faintest tury after the event, the de- world.
sign of thinking he’s bigger bate over what really hap- Surfers’ action-sports cous-
than the game. pened lingers. ins, the snowboarders,
Chesser’s ethos helps trans- “In my recollection, the still grapple with riding for
form the boys into men and, heat had already been money and medals, and
somehow, they manage to dictated, and basically, with being co-opted into a
stay friends while also be- that was irrelevant,” Mach- bloated Olympic domain
coming fierce competitors, ado said in an interview this that even the most merce-
ganging up to knock Aus- week with The Associated nary in the sport will con-
tralia’s pro-surfing dynasty Press. “It didn’t really mat- cede does not mesh with
off its pedestal. ter.” their values.
All is well for the young Maybe not that day. As “Momentum Genera-
Americans until 1995. The But Slater won. In the af- tion” details, surfers are
best in the sport is Kelly Slat- termath, he went on to a few decades ahead
er. His nearest rival is also his become the most suc- in the life cycle of this co-
best friend, Rob Machado, cessful pro surfer in history, nundrum. They were riding
who, decades later, spent while Machado’s competi- for cash and prizes before
nearly six years collaborat- tive career was never the the snowboard was in-
ing with his manager and same. vented. An icon’s untimely
others to get this movie Neither, however, emerged death threw a tear-stained
made. unscathed by Chesser’s blanket over it for many of
As their dream season push- death less than 15 months them, and the subsequent
es forward, the relati6on- later; he was killed while success Machado and
ship between Slater and surfing a wild wave on Oa- many others have enjoyed
Machado grows tense. The hu’s Outside Alligators. has come on the “lifestyle”
crescendo comes during a The tragedy forces every- side of the sport.q