Butler's Cinema Scene

“God Went Surfing with the Devil”

The surfing documentary has been a cinema staple ever since Bruce Brown’s “Endless Summer” back in 1966, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything quite like “God Went Surfing with the Devil,” professional skateboarder Alexander Klein’s heady blend of Middle Eastern politics and wave-catching abandon.

Klein’s doc follows activists with Surfing4Peace who are attempting to do their small part for world peace by shepherding a shipment of surfboards into Gaza. They envision Arab enthusiasts joining their Jewish counterparts in riding the waves of Gaza’s sandy beaches.

Sounds like an easy enough task, but that doesn’t take into account all the Israeli government’s red tape, widespread distrust and general paranoia in a part of the world where terrorist bombings, missile attacks and midnight raids have everyone on edge.

For a first-time director Klein does a fine job of covering both sides of the Israeli-Arab divide, grabbing man-in-the-street footage between visits to recalcitranbt bureaucrats. Best of  all are the surfers themselves, who in the face of a perfect curl find a unity absent almost everywhere else in their lives.

“The Wild Hunt”

You’ll never look at a Renaissance Festival in the same way after “The Wild Hunt,” a Canadian feature set in the world of live-action role playing.

When his girlfriend Lyn (Tilo Horn) takes up with a guy who’s big in the world of Medieval make believe, Erik (Ricky Mabe) takes off in pursuit, following them to a conclave of hundreds of hirsuit re-enactors who have taken over a recreation of a 12th century village.

Erik can only gain entry by removing all his modern clothing and gear and donning a peasant’s burlap tunic; once inside he’s surrounded by mead-chugging berserkers, helmeted soldiers and ripe wenches who talk in fairy tale lingo and refuse to break character.

Erik finds an ally in his older brother (Mark A. Krupa), an enthusiast who wears a Viking wig and seems to have modeled his character on Conan the Barbarian. And he finds an implacable enemy in Lyn’s new love interest, the powerful shaman Murtagh (Trevor Hayes).

Alexandre Franche’s film, winner of last year’s Slamdance Audience Award, delivers a few laughs as it explores the ways in which the 21^st century bleeds through all this sword-and-sorcery posturing. But “Wild Hunt” overreaches when its everyday dorks  begin acting like the brutal warriors they have chosen as alter egos. Murder and mayhem follow.

Still, this is a well-acted, slickly produced effort.

“In Her Skin”

Ruth Bradley in "In Her Skin":

In Simone North’s “In Her Skin” Aussie actress Ruth Bradley gives a harrowing, totally devastating performance as a fat, loveless and socially inept young woman dangerously obsessed with the beautiful teenage dancer she once baby sat.

Like “Heavenly Creatures,” another true-life crime drama from Down Under , “Skin” is a hair-raising examination of a troubled mind. Bradley’s Caroline is both compelling and repellant, given to hysterical sobbing,  violent outbursts and scary mood swings. We pity her but we also yearn for her comeuppance.

Great cast: Miranda Otto and Guy Pearce as the missing teen’s parents, and Sam Neill is Caroline’s well-to-do father, whose reservoir of sympathy for his unlovable offspring has all but dried up.

“Looking for Fidel”

Shot in 2003 but only recently released, Oliver Stone’s “Looking for Fidel” is likely one of the last documentary studies we’ll get about Cuba’s ailing revolutionary hero and leader.

In a series of sit-down interviews Stone hits Castro with hard questions about political repression, American-sponsored terrorism and other touchy subjects. Apparently nothing was off limits. Castro responds with vigor, humor and not one iota of  defensiveness.

The film is only an hour long, but it’s so jammed with information it could hardly hold any more.  It’s probably not going to change anyone’s view of Castro, but “Looking for Fidel” humanizes him in ways that no previous film has.

| Robert W. Butler