Admittedly I am not a surfer but I do enjoy surfing movies. I put this on in the background just for the noise. I hadn't seen the trailer and didn't know anything about it.The self righteous indignation from many of the reviews is surprising. They are up front about their intentions - simply to find the perfect wave. They did not start off with lofty pursuits just looking for a good wave. That they connected with the indigenous people of the area they were visiting was a turn in the story.I was not aware of the atrocities of the Papua people. I found the story compelling and enlightening. The surfers were clearly touched by the people they stayed with and are trying to take the message of those people to the rest of the world. Are they TFB - maybe - are they just rich surfers - probably - but they are using their position to shed light on a population who is being terribly abused.

I admit I didn't watch it until the end. But that was because I became bored with one too many scenes of native children playing in the surf, feral surfers showing children how to surf, ruminations about us all living together happily, surfing on low waves as they search for the big wave. A lady alluded to the fact that genocide is going on in the country and that it's being kept secret. But that has been known for a few years especially with the growth of the internet. Actually more inclusion of the human rights violations mentioned in the Netflix promo probably would have helped break up the drowsy inducing scenes of the hip young Westerners interfacing with their native hosts but as I said I finally couldn't take it anymore. Maybe at the end they found the big wave I don't know by then a wave of sleep had overtaken me.

great chill filmI enjoyed vicariously witnessing wildly beautiful places with sanguine surfing explorers, and the side story's (which develops into THE story) added depth (which is all about caring for strangers) really fixed me happily to the whole tale. Another critic skewered this film for lack of integrity. If all he gathered from this film is that these surfers were "trust fund babies" on a vacation, then I think the guy is simply disagreeable. Sometimes the people trying anything they can think of to make a difference seem silly to people whose efforts have never reached beyond the criticism of others.

A bunch of trust fund babies take a HUGE amount of expensive surfing equipment to remote beaches around New Guinea. Then talk about the conditions of the people living there. Add in some dramatic music to make it seem as if they are making ANY kind of contribution to these people's lives and then leave to go surf some more.I can't get over how arrogant this all is. Most people have to work for a living. Your mission was to SURF?!>?!?! really? You took a film crew and half a dozen surfers across the world to find some WAVES>?!>!>!> the hubris of this is unbelievable. Then I see the budget was 1.1 million dollars.. GRRRRRRRR... maybe you could have made a real contribution to these people and not just made a self aggrandizing film about how great you are for filming people living in fear of genocide and other atrocities.Phew.. I feel better. Thank you for your time. and if you made this movie and are reading this, please re-evaluate your priorities in life.