Breathe evenly Filled with light sadness, the raucous voice of the narrator in this picture not only reminds us that we are watching the adaptation of the novel by Tim Winton, but also creates a special confidential atmosphere around the story of growing up, slowly thought through from the height of my years.
I still evaluate every joyful moment of my life, every victory and every discovery in comparison with the first seconds of flying on that wave>, recalls adult Bruce Pike his first experience of riding the wave. Pike was not even 14 years old when he first saw surfers: their “dances on the water” was perceived by a teenager as incomparably beautiful, “aimless and elegant” occupation of a person, and at the same time “the best and most courageous” occupation. And here he and his friend Looney are already on real boards saddled their first wave. Their first two-foot waves are just a high, given effortlessly. But here in the lives of the guys there is a professional surfer Sando, who shows them the waves steeper and more dangerous places, with sharks and reefs. And Pikey suddenly notices his breath. From a large wave it intercepts, and movements are constrained. You reach a certain limit in yourself and to overcome it, you need an experienced mentor - fortunately, Sando is doing well. Joint immersion to a serene bottom is soothing - and you are ready to take the previously impregnable top of 10 feet.
There seems to be no more accurate metaphor for growing up than surfing. His father never had the idea of running a boat on a wave - Pikey knew only serene fishing in calm water. But from a quiet family harbour you have to venture into the raging sea of life, where one storm is soon to be replaced by another. And if you come across a good teacher, you learn to recognize dangerous places, bypass the reef in advance to challenge a new obstacle and be on the crest of the wave. It makes you a few feet older.
The most important thing is to overcome fear, Sando said. Overcoming fear to take the next wave - this lives an experienced surfer. And so without end - there will always be some new unexplored shore, more dangerous than the previous one. What for Sando is the meaning of existence, for Pikey is only a way of growing up. The guy already knows he can go further if he wants to. But life does not have to be a line of obstacles that knock your breath away. Life, at least for the most part, can be a dance in a bubbling sea, when no wave will disturb the uniformity of your breathing. Because you've grown up.
8 out of 10
Original