If you’re into slick professional surfing, big moves and surf dvd’s chockas full of wave action then this is probably not the DVD for you. If however you are into a thoughtful cinematic road surfing trip experience then this is definitely worth the watch.

I stumbled across this video as I’m planning a similar trip down through Mexico and possibly ending up in Costa Rica (we’ll see how the plans go) and so purchased the DVD and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its arrival. It came yesterday and I was was quite pleased with what I got. I was expecting more of a road trip blow by blow account of what they did and was hoping to pick up a few pointers in my own planning, but it tended to just pick out a few spots and instances in the massive trip - I guess in an hour long DVD you can’t cover everything in the trip. There is an interesting narration style which runs throughout the video offering commentary and thoughts on their experiences and their search for “Captain Zero” famed author Alan Weisbecker.

Overall I really enjoyed the DVD, some great shots, some really nice waves - “Somewhere in Mexico” makes an appearance, though not as impressive as the waves in the recent competition - still some great ones coming through. One of the things I really liked about it was well said by Steve Barilotti from Surfer Magazine - “Zen and Zero is refreshingly free of gratuitous logo shots and forced sponsored-rider antics, proving that surfing is not so much about riding a wave as living on one.”

Some reviews this DVD has received:

Steve Barilotti - Surfer Magazine

If you ever needed reassurance that the rebel heart of surfing is still beating strong under the slow strangulation of rampant mainstreaming, this film is for you.

Zen and Zero, which explores the ambiguous metaphors of surfing through the dust-choked eyes of five transplanted Austrians on the quintessential pig-latitude roadtrip, swept Best Story and Best Director at this year’s X-Dance film festival and continues to garner trophies on its international festival run.

Employing a hardboiled Hunter S. Thompson-esque narration style crossed with a driving, surf-meets-Spaghetti-Western soundtrack (masterfully scored by Herwig Maurer), this soulful 16mm film lets you ride shotgun on a 7,000-mile surfing pigrimage, complete with flat tires, Federales and happy buzzards feasting on bloated roadkill. Paying tribute to Bruce Brown’s 1960 classic, Surf Crazy, the crew of amiable Austrians journeys the length of the Pan-American Highway from Los Angeles to Costa Rica in search of Captain Zero and the zeitgeist of Dudeness.

Funded mostly on the filmmmakers’ credit cards, Zen and Zero is refreshingly free of gratuitous logo shots and forced sponsored-rider antics, proving that surfing is not so much about riding a wave as living on one.

David Geffner - The Surfer’s Path

This is the movie Bruce Brown would have made if he followed Hunter Thompson and Jack Kerouac down to Costa Rica with nothing in his boardbag but Super 8 film and Cuervo!”

I bought the DVD from CD Universe which seemed to be the cheapest around - Click here to go directly to Zen & Zero

Check out the trailer below….