HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY FF REVIEW: Minna Dufton’s BIG VS SMALL will convince you to surf your big dreams
Joana Andrade is an inspiration. The pioneer professional female surfer upended the league and forced a reconciliation of gender disparity all while successfully battling her personal demons. Her spirit feels both playful, inquisitive, and humble. Minna Dufton’s documentary Big vs. Small follows Andrade throughout a period of her life as she pursues even bigger waves, but must process her deep trauma in order to succeed.
Big vs. Small feels like one long Buddhist meditation. The gentle in-and-out flow of breath mirrors the rhythm to the film’s edit. The lap of waves on camera perform a sort of hypnotic metronome for audiences. This quality gives measured pacing to the film overall and gives the audience chances to take in the scope and velocity of some truly massive surfing waves, but also chances to listen to Andrade. It’s fantastically cut together stringing together footage from wildly different camera sources as it shows different highlights of her surfing.
Despite its relatively short seventy-six minute runtime, this film never feels too short or too long. The first third introduces us not only to Joana, but also to the sport of big wave surfing as well. It introduces her traumatic backstory and tumultuous teenage years while exploring her family and friendships. The middle third latches on to a narrative surrounding her training in Finland for her next big wave. There she meets an instructor, also named Johana, who teaches her about deep water ice diving and breath holding. That middle third helps release the tension of her past and she grows into a more confident version of herself. The last third hones in on the final challenge: surfing the big wave.
Tim Bonython deserves special recognition as the surf cinematographer. The camera team captures Joana at so many different angles we gain an intimate sense of surf on something simple like the GoPro mounted to the jetski. We see her in comparison to medium-sized waves. Lastly we see her surf monster-sized waves in a manner that rolls out the wave to us in beautiful slow motion. That last section plays like gangbusters as she keeps on rising, the wave keeps on getting bigger, and our disbelief grows with every second. I audibly chuffed as she climbed over one particularly massive wave, time to swelling drums and cymbal clashes.
The film moralizes quite frequently. Man vs nature, man vs self, the value of fear. It’s all there in Joana’s words. We get to contemplate fear quite a bit. Fear of death, fear of self. Joana’s journey is all about processing fear and the film shows her pontificating in a way that doesn’t feel preachy. It’s inherent to what she does and if she is going to spend every day out there on the waves then she probably has quite a bit to say about fear and it’s role. It gives the film a sort of introspective feel, even as gigantic waves crash overhead.
The narrative aspect of this documentary works perfectly in weaving threads together, preventing it from sailing out past the tide. It anchors the film, but because it’s so loose it gives them room for those long monologues. Ultimately the film’s oceanic give-and-take proves to be it’s greatest strength.
Joana Andrade’s accomplishments can be framed in simple metrics: She increased gender equity in her sport, she surfed massive waves, but most importantly she came to terms with her trauma. I’m not giving something away by revealing that. I found myself reveling in her journey, framed like the classic Hero’s Journey, and her growth and experience. For some reason the last section, titled “You have to go home.”, choked me up in tears as we see our triumphant hero return home changed for the better.
To hear Andrade wax poetic about dreams and the need for fear inspires everyone. The last words of the film are: “Nothing is impossible. That is how dreams are born.” This final endorsement of the “you can do anything” summarizes the sentiment of this entire movie. I personally feel motivated and refreshed, excited for the world ahead of me. Andrade’s journey excites, unnerves, and terrifies in equal measures but witnessing every second of it convinces me that if she can overcome her greatest fears then perhaps I can too.
