Keith Malloy’s debut film Come Hell or High Water is, in my opinion, the best bodysurf movie of all time.
For me, the film encapsulated the simplicity and beauty of the ancient pastime that is bodysurfing. It also reinforced an idea that I had long held true: bodysurfing is the purest form of wave-riding.
Prior to discovering this film, I had always felt like an imposter among other surfers. Come Hell or High Water made me proud to be a bodysurfer for the first time.
Blue Mind
People around the world love swimming whether it’s in a pool, a lake, a pond, or in the ocean. It’s gone on for thousands of years, playing in the ocean energy. – Mark Cunningham
My favorite scene in Come Hell or High Water features Don King, winner of the 1992 Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic, bodysurfing with his autistic son Beau.
“One of the neat things about Beau,” King says, “is how comfortable he is in the water, and how much he likes it. And so, when I go in the water with Beau, for awhile, I can just play with him and forget about all the problems of autism, and it’s just me and him.”
Anyone who watches this scene can see that bodysurfing has a soothing effect on Beau.
Marine biologist and neuroscientist, Wallace J. Nichols, makes the case that being in and around water has therapeutic benefits that can make humans happier, healthier, and more connected.
In his best-selling book Blue Mind, Nichols claims the average person in today’s society processes more information on a daily basis than any other time in history. This has resulted in unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression.
Modern humans constantly operate in a reptilian “fight or flight” mindset. Thankfully, spending time near the ocean can counteract this negative mind state.
“What happens when you’re at the water, is your brain is getting a break,” says Nichols. “Getting to the water forces us to disconnect from the stream of auditory and visual information, and switches your brain to Blue Mind, which helps us relax, reconnect with nature, reconnect with others, and reconnect with ourselves.”
Biophilia
To me, bodysurfing is the best interaction between man and nature that exists. – Mike Stewart
Come Hell or High Water presents bodysurfing as an activity that improves our relationship with nature. In fact, wave-riding sea animals such as dolphins and seals inspired the first human bodysurfers.
Renowned naturalist, E.O. Wilson, argued that our natural affinity for life—which he called biophilia—is the very essence of our humanity and binds us to all other living species.
According to Wilson, humans have an instinctive bond with all other living organisms on our planet; the natural world draws us in.
“We are most alive and at ease in the wilderness and among the myriad other species teeming there,” writes Thad Ziolkowski, author of The Drop, “because ocean and forest and mountain are where our ancestors spent the vast preponderance of evolutionary time—three million years versus the very recent historical past of the agrarian era.”
Maybe we can overcome much of what ails us in modern society by simply returning to our ancestral roots—playing in the ocean, whence we came.
Come Hell or High Water certainly seems to remind us of that.
