Point of Change review – how ‘surf explorers’ wrecked a tiny Indian Ocean paradise

Not unlike A Story of Bones from a few weeks back, which focused on an island (Saint Helena) in another ocean, this film offers a thoughtful, somewhat downbeat story rooted in colonialism and its aftermath. The island in this case is Nias, a speck of a place off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, barely developed and thinly populated in the 1970s when a pair of Australian surfers, John Geisel and Kevin Lovett, who were bumming around Indonesia looking for places to catch waves, get stoned and get away from the macho surf culture in Oz fetched up there. They had spotted Nias on the map and correctly surmised that it might have “surf potential”, as Lovett calls it. It turned out to be one of the greatest surf spots in Oceania, if not the world. Geisel and Lovett arrived on Nias at the same time as “surf explorer” Peter Troy and his then-girlfriend Wendy Adcock; soon the four of them were revelling in the islands perfect tubular waves, empty beaches and hospitable locals.
Of course, their contact with this Shangri-La sowed seeds of destruction that are still felt today. Word got out to the surfing community about Nias’ idyllic charms, and soon led to boatloads of tourists, pollution and a local populace all too eager to profit from the visitors’ appetites for drugs, alcohol and sex. Geisel, Lovett and others developed malaria. People went mysteriously missing and some died suddenly abroad, suggesting dark forces at work; these were talked of by the locals who believed in shamanism and the presence of dark magic.
Director Rebecca Coley rather indulges this woo-woo mysticism, making Point of Change both a bit creepier and sillier at the same time, enhanced by the charming bits of chunky animation throughout used to fill in backstory or illustrate ideas. The trippy 1970s vibe to the graphics suits the material well at first but serves the story less effectively later on when we meet Bonne Gea, a local woman who went on to become a champion surfer inspired by the tourists who brought the sport to the island. But as geography-cum-sports docs go, this is pretty interesting stuff, and is also – of course – chock full of impressive grainy film footage of folks riding the waves.