Fighting Fear

Synopsis: A documentary tracing the life and professional journeys of Richie Vaculik and Mark Matthews, both high up in their fields of surfing and mixed martial arts and friends since their boyhood near Maroubra Beach, Sydney.

If the measure of a good doco is that it can retain your interest, regardless of its subject matter, Fighting Fear got me in from the word go, on every level. As a piece of film-making it is smartly made, with impressive variety in its visual style. It has some spectacular shots of big waves, shots which baffled me as to how they captured such death-defying ride but the film also features a fascinating mix of home movies of Mark and Richie as kids, archival footage of incidents and competitions in their lives, some recreated scenarios, excellent computer graphics to highlight certain points made, and some trippy mind-blowing visuals that get one into the heart of the fight or the wave. All this is backed up by a terrific and varied score written by Twice as Nice and featuring Kid Mac.

Visual and aural panache aside,  it is the character of the two blokes and the values they stand for that really impressed me. Both admit to having been a pair of larrikins but through the power of friendship, and a bit of maturity, both managed to surmount their demons. For Mark it was fear. As a kid he was terrified of big waves but Richie’s encouragement got him over it. But when he almost broke his neck at Tasmania’s Shipstern’s wave, that incident prevented him, like a mental block, from wanting to surf, especially that wave, again. For Richie his major obstacle seemed to be his knack for getting himself in trouble, particularly brawls. Having had a narrow escape from jail he resolves to change his ways and channel his fighting spirit into the growing martial art form, MMA, requiring a wide range of fighting skills. His dedication to training, becoming fit and eschewing the booze really pays off. (It helps that he has a lovely girlfriend Lucia, who adds a feminine touch to the testosterone-driven content).

Macario De Souza co-directed the very successful Bra Boys (2007), and the connection between the two films is evident but this one goes much further in its positive message for young people. Richie and Mark have the commonality of split families and so the tie of friendship is as important for them as if they were family. Through their example we witness the importance of loyalty and support, of perseverance, and, most of all, of transforming negative impulses into positive activity. There’s a magnificent scene where the guys decide to celebrate some wins, but instead of doing it the old way they have an all night “surf bender” where they surf until sun-up, giving rise to some remarkable night footage.

I came away uplifted and cheered to see such a brilliant role model of male friendship on the screen, and, to boot, got plenty of vicarious thrills by watching two athletes at the top of their games taking part in exciting challenges that literally had me on the edge of my seat.

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