Generally speaking, I'm not that big on documentaries but I can of course appreciate a good one and can get intrigued by a great and interesting concept. And while it's not like this movie has an incredible subject, it still manages to be a great watch.
This is not a documentary about an all important subject or world changing event, or a legendary, influential person. It's the story of a not so very ordinary man, living a not so very ordinary live, with his wife and 9 children.
It's the story of a man, giving up basically everything he had in life and had build up with other persons, to explore himself and to do just the things he wants to do. That means surfing and traveling from beach to beach, in a camper, without a steady income or responsibilities to anyone else. He's living by his own ideologies and has his very own, sometimes very peculiar, ideas about what true happiness, wisdom is and how to achieve it all and what is good for you and not. It would be fine if he lived this life on his own but having a kid and 9 children living in a small camper with you, living by the same ideologies it's of course a bit troublesome and perhaps even irresponsible.
But it's not like the documentary is picking sides with anyone or condemns anything. Actually the things I really liked about this documentary was that for its first half it showed one big, happy family, that were really living the life and everything seemed just perfect. But then suddenly the second half started to show a far more less happy side of things and suddenly everything seemed not as cool and perfect as it did before. It shines two different lights on the same subject basically, which was an admirable and a bit of an unexpected thing for this documentary to do.
It's also a documentary that is good and pleasant to watch due to its pace. Some documentaries tend to dwell on for too long because they are so love in love with their subject. This documentary doesn't do this. It doesn't put anyone on a pedestal and actually does a rather surprising good job at giving as many people as possible an equal amount of screen time. This is a documentary about a large family, consisting out of 2 parents with 9 children but everyone gets to tell their side of things- and their own personal story, without ever making the documentary feel overlong. It tells you just enough and everything you really need to know.
Just in case you hadn't figured; a great documentary to watch!
8/10
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