Facing Monsters: Review

The ocean is one of the most unexplored areas of the world and yet it covers so much of it. The mystery of the depths still draws people to it today and the contrast between the calmness and the violent roar of the waves puts fear and joy in people in equal measures.

We feel like ants in awe of its power and there are many that respect that, but others see it as a challenge waiting to be conquered.

As Facing Monsters, a documentary directed by Bentley Dean starts, amongst the beautiful images of the Australian coast there’s a terrifying one of surfer Kerby Brown. He’s covered in blood, laying down and has his head in a bandage. It feels like this image has come not long after a session out among the waves and this is how we start to know what drives him to go out there.

Serving as part documentary on the feeling of the pull of the surf and part biography of surfer Kerby Brown, the audience gets to know a little about his story between incredible shots of the biggest waves in the world. Kerby says himself that there’s no other feeling like being out in the ocean and riding the waves and he doesn’t know what he’d do without it.

However, there’s also a side to Kerby’s story that sheds a little light on his addictive pastime as his own life has been marred by drink and drugs addiction and numerous arrests. Speaking to Kerby’s wife Cortney, the audience may understand that his compulsion to surf may be the thing that saves him, but it may also be what ends up killing him.

Thankfully, life has a way of sending messages and due to the birth of his children, Kerby became a changed man and his drive became his children rather than catching the next big wave. Although, that’s not to say that Kerby doesn’t still go out there from time to time.

Facing Monsters may not have a particularly compelling story, but the feeling of the ocean may wash over the audience as they start to feel what Kerby feels. Something that is like nothing else.

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