This scene in Soul Surfer is towards the middle of the movie, after the main character Bethany gets her arm bitten off by a shark. Surfing is part of Bethany’s everyday life so when she goes through this traumatic experience one of the first things she wants to know is when she can get back in the ocean. It doesn’t end up being all that easy and there are many times where she thinks she will not succeed in being a competitive surfer. While this movie may primarily revolve around surfing, it also had many life lessons such as highlighting how difficult it can be to have a form of disability and then how you can never give up on something you love.

This particular scene clearly depicts the struggle of how hard it can be to persevere. The mood is set by the dark lighting and windy setting. There are four different shots used throughout the scene, three of which are close up while one is a far out shot. Bethany and her dad are having a heart to heart. When Bethany mentions how hard it is to paddle out to the line up the shot widens and you see the waves crash against the reef. At the beginning of the scene the light from the sun lights the outside of their faces, but by the end it seems as though the sun has set and Bethany is on the verge of tears. Both the characters posture in this scene depicts the struggle that they are feeling, their bodies are slouched. I find it interesting how both Bethany and her dad are wearing different shades of blue. The phrase “feeling blue” comes to mind, Bethany is wearing a light blue and her dad is wearing dark blue. The scene starts off with a close up of just Bethany and then slides over to who she is talking to; her dad. After she is done talking is when it slides over to her dad. Then for the rest of the scene it is both of them together. The waves crashing against the reef is a representation of conflict. She just got her arm bitten off by a shark in the ocean, so the ocean being the background is very significant. It is almost as if she cannot escape her problems. The core of her issues revolves around the ocean but the ocean and surfing is also what normally cures her problems. There is a sense of hopelessness in this scene, mother nature cannot be controlled, the waves pounding represent how she cannot change what happened to her, yet she doesn’t understand how it could happen to her or why. While I am not all that familiar with makeup, it seems as though Bethany has eyeliner on, this adds to the feeling of darkness and sadness in this scene. This scene does a lot to evoke emotion, and for me that is a very important aspect of films.