‘Soul Surfer’: surviving a shark attack

In honor of Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week, this week’s movie is dedicated to “Soul Surfer” — Sean McNamara’s 2011 film about National Scholastic Surfing Association champion Bethany Hamilton. The film is based on Hamilton’s memoir, “Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board.”

The film stars AnnaSophia Robb (you might know her as Violet Beauregard from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) as 13-year-old Bethany. Bethany lost her left arm to a 14-foot Tiger shark attack on October 31, 2003. Less than a month later — on November 23 — Bethany got back into the water. Less than a year later, Bethany placed fifth in an NSSA regional event.

Bethany makes surfing look effortless as she rides the Turtle Bay Resort Invitational waves; it’s as if she’s part of nature.

“My mom was convinced that we were mermaids,” she said.

Hamilton, herself, does much of the stunt work in this film, playing as Robb’s double. Robb had to learn to surf and was coached by Hamilton’s instructor.

The Hamilton family had a large part in producing the film. Hamilton chose Robb to play her mini-me in the movie after seeing the 2007 film “Bridge to Terabithia.” It’s not hard to see why.

Robb has a girl-next-door innocence about her like Lindsay Lohan’s characters in “Parent Trap,” “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls.” As Bethany, she’s positive, humble and religious. But she’s also passionate and competitive about her sport.

“Two brothers: that’s my answer when anyone asks me why I’m so competitive,” she says.

But her and her brothers have a loving relationship, supporting and challenging each other. In the film, her brothers — played by Ross Thomas and Chris Brochu — could be seen filming her surfing. Her oldest brother, Noah Hamilton, grows up to be a photographer. Tim Hamilton is a cinematographer on various projects including “Hawaii-Five-O” and “Lost.”

Her family’s very pleasant — like the Camden family from “7th Heaven.” Her mother, Cheri (Helen Hunt), and her father, Tom (Dennis Quaid), are very much in love — sharing kisses and goofing off on the beach. Friendly family surfing competitions dissolve into games of tag. They’re the perfect nuclear family — three healthy kids, a dog, a house by the beach.

That’s the calm before the storm.

The storm itself is quick as flashes of lightning and feels like pouring a numbingly cold bucket of ice on your head. Unlike “Jaws,” there’s no build-up to the shark attack. It just happens as suddenly as a hailstorm, almost chewing up Bethany’s pro-surfing career.

Robb looks pale and lifeless after the shark attack. John R. Leonetti’s cinematography’s shaky, adding to this surreal panic. The distress seems out of place among the blue skies, beautiful beaches, orange sunsets and scenic Hawaii landscapes. At times, the film feels like a music video advocating an insouciant surfer lifestyle; it’s the Garden of Eden, filled with beautiful people in a beautiful land partying on the beach with a bonfire, sparklers and fireworks.

But as George Clooney’s character, Matt King, reminds us in “The Descendants,” Hawaii isn’t a permanent paradise: “How can they possibly think our families are less screwed up, our heart attacks and cancers less fatal, our grief less devastating?”

As Bethany fearlessly demonstrates, even when the waves knock you down, you have the power to get back up.

“Soul Surfer” was directed by Sean McNamura. The screenplay was written by McNamura, Michael Berk and Douglas and Deborah Schwartz.