Maya and the Wave review – spotlight on the Brazilian surfer triumphing over a riptide of sexism

It takes a certain kind of personality to be drawn to big wave surfing: ultra-competitive, driven, as close to fearless as it’s possible to get. And until Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira came along, it was a world that was almost exclusively male. Gabeira’s decision to try to match the men was met with a wave of hostility as formidable as any of the building-sized ocean swells that she attempted to surf. This is not, it has to be said, the most flattering portrait of the sport and the fragile-egoed alpha males that populate it. Leaning heavily on a wealth of breathtaking slow-motion surf footage, Stephanie Johnes’s crowd-pleasing documentary tracks Gabeira’s triumph over industry sexism and a catastrophic wipeout that nearly cost her career and her life. Stirring stuff.

• In UK and Irish cinemas