Morning of the Earth (1972)

• Year: 1972
• Released: 21 Sep 2013
• Country: Australia
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248194/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morning_of_the_earth
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• Genre: Documentary, Action, Reality-TV
• Runtime: 79 min
• Writer: N/A
• Director: Albert Falzon
• Cast: Chris Brock, Stephen Cooney, Terry Fitzgerald

7.3/10

Morning of the Earth Storyline

The film portrays surfers living in spiritual harmony with nature, making their own boards (and homes) as they traveled in search of the perfect wave across Australia’s north-east coast, Bali and Hawaii. The movie is regarded as one of the finest of its genre and noted as recording the first surfers to ride the waves at Uluwatu on the very southern tip of Bali and so bringing Bali to the attention of surfers around the world and so the beginnings of Bali as a major tourist destination.

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Morning of the Earth Photos

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Morning of the Earth Movie Reviews

“Seeing everything as nothing but the soul…”

I was surprised to see that one Australian online DVD store had this movie categorised under ‘Sport’. Certainly ‘Morning of the Earth’ is a surfing movie, showing footage of many famous 70s surfers going through their paces, but it is also much more than that…

‘Morning of the Earth’ is a beautiful and artistic movie about the counter-culture of the late 60s and early 70s, which took the form of an alternate lifestyle of simplicity and self-sufficiency in the warm tropics of Australia, Bali, and Hawaii… ‘a fantasy of surfers living in three unspoilt lands and playing in nature’s oceans’, the booklet enclosed with the DVD says… and it goes on to say… ‘see everything as nothing but the soul and the soul in everything you see’.

“Morning of the Earth’ has no dialogue and there is an excellent soundtrack of Australian music from the early 70s, featuring artists such as Brian Cadd, G. Wayne Thomas, and Taman Shud. One of the classic songs is ‘Open up your Heart’… which says… ‘It’s a start, when you open up your heart, give your love to others, they become your brothers, when you open up your heart’.

The surfing footage in ‘Morning of the Earth’ is stunning, full of mesmerizing blues, greens, yellows, and reds; including sunsets and sunrises. But as I say this is a movie that is about much more than surfing. Get the picture?

visual/tone poem to the surfer lifestyle

This film depicts, in a languorous mood, the special connection surfers and other performance artists have with nature. The overall feel of the movie is mellow and mesmerizing, with long shots of wafer-thin wave faces and hypnotic tube rides. An absolute blast, this is for everyone who has ever ridden a wave or simply wished they had.

An Absolute Must-See Classic

Transcends its genre. Shot on gorgeous 16mm film, this is a one-of-a-kind meditation on the beauty of the earth through the lens of surfing. Looking back from 2010 with the industry’s obsession with sponsorships, competitions and tricks, this film now seems a powerful echo from a different era. All the corruptive layers fall away and the viewer is invited into the mesmerizing spectacle of humans balanced on the edge of powerful oceanic forces in between living simply in the woods and building their own surfboards. The soulful original soundtrack is the icing on the cake, and reinforces the notion of surfing as no mere sport, but rather an art, a dance, and an attitude towards life.