The Crest is a story of an unsung diaspora
It’s hard to imagine this nation without immigrants. Impossible, even, given our history. That there are entire groups of people in this country who believe only in a white, Christian America is baffling. That these groups of people appear to control the majority of the government is terrifying.
There is an incredible amount of diversity in between the coasts. This diversity is made of stories, stories from far away, stories told and retold, generation after generation, creating a nation proud of their heritage, no matter where it might lie. The country itself is a mixture of these influences, a hodgepodge of faiths, culture, and family, intermingling and learning from each other.
There’s no reason it should work—we are more than aware of those who try to divide us based on fear of the other—but it does, for a very simple reason. Humans are naturally curious and open, if given the chance. When that openness is encouraged, it allows us to hear each other, to listen to the stories and be shaped by the experience.
A few years ago The Crest, a documentary by Mark Covino, was featured at the Chattanooga Film Festival and is available on VOD. It is one of those stories that allows us to hear each other.
The Crest is, at least partially, a story about two young men, Dennis Kane and Andrew Jacob. They live on opposite coasts, one in southern California, one in New England, but share a similar love of surfing. They also share a story, passed down by their mothers. They are descendants of An Ri, a man known as the King of the Blasket Islands.
For those unfamiliar, the Blasket Islands are a small group of islands off the west coast of Ireland that are now uninhabited, but were previously home to a small group of Irish-speaking natives. The islands are largely isolated, often inaccessible by sea.
But a small group of men and women made them their home. Small is a relative term, of course, but reportedly the largest population at any given time was around 175 people. And yet, you can find hundreds of descendants of Blasket islanders around the world, many in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Which leads us back to Dennis and Andrew, cousins removed from each other by time and distance, with a peculiar love of the sea and similar expression for it. Through a series of coincidences involving a fiddle left behind in a pub long ago, the pair are brought together by a familiar story and visit Ireland to discover more of their past and surf the waves of the Emerald Isle.
Director Mark Covino has a knack for finding stories like The Crest. His previous film, A Band Called Death, had a similar focus on family and how things can be both lost and rediscovered in profound and powerful ways. The Crest isn’t quite as strong a story as A Band Called Death, but it is interesting in its own way.
The culture of the Blaskets, particularly in regard to the writers they produced and their influence on Irish literature, is not something I was aware of previously. I found myself more interested in the history surrounding the Blaskets, and wanting to know more about the culture, particularly the role of the king himself, An Ri. (It seems he was more of an elder than a monarch, exactly. One of his duties was to deliver the mail).
Still, it’s hard not to feel emotional watching Dennis and Andrew surf the waves of their ancestral home, bringing a piece of themselves to the lifeblood of those who came before.
One of the interesting reflections The Crest brought out, at least for me, is the richness of immigration and the fusion of cultures within the United States. Dennis and Andrew are overwhelmingly American, but they maintain their Irish heritage through the stories that are passed down, as well as their own connection to the ocean.
But then, their love of the ocean reveals itself through surfing, a sport with a distinctly Polynesian history, very far removed from the deep green hills and grey skies of Ireland.
There’s a beauty in that. A mystery. A marriage of circumstance and openness. The Crest prompts such thoughts, which is exactly what a documentary should do.