Powerful

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This documentary brought me back to that summer sitting on a beach in Hawaii. I was 16 and I read Dove about the voyage of Robin Lee Graham who started his around-the-world sailing when he was 16. I had never been on a boat and didn't have much desire to do anything similar, neither then of ever since. I have spent a little time on sailboats and I've always thought—if not dreamed—of crossing the ocean on a sailing vessel. I would only do it with someone with a lot more experience and knowledge than what I have gleaned after a couple summers of crewing on a racing yacht. Her bravery is the most inspirational aspect of Maidentrip.What this film represents, at least to me, is the sense of adventure in all of us, whether we have acted on it or not. I've never done anything like this but I haven't exactly been paralyzed with fear, cowering inside a locked room. I just like to read, hear, and watch other people's ideas on the subject. I think that I have acted to fulfill a few of my dreams in life and that has made all the difference, as Frost put it.

Maidentrip is the story of a 14-16 year old girl who wants to sail around the world alone. As anyone who has spent time sailing alone, that is an extremely powerful premise on itself. The film maker made a brilliant decision to focus on this premise and not go to deeply into the other interesting aspects such as the mechanics of sailing or the adventures ashore. This film focuses on the type of person who wants to tackle the oceans alone as while as the freedom, loneliness and adventure of such a trip. Where this film really shines is that to shows instead of telling. It has scenes of her finding great comfort in the company of dolphins instead of scenes of her crying or complaining. It has scenes of her silently embracing the beauty of the exotic islands she visits instead of a tourists itinerary of her shore visits. Laura is also great on camera, showing her strength, vulnerabilities and quirky teenage personality without resorting to drama or shock value. And then the last scene... This is what made me rate this movie a 10. After completing here around the world voyage she leaves the Caribbean to head for New Zealand. In the voice over she talks about how she found a crewmate to share this new voyage with and how if she doesn't like New Zealand she will just push off for another port. It starts as a close up on "Guppy" sailing confidently under full sail and pans out until the boat is but a small spec on the giant ocean. That scene really captured the power of a young girl determined to chart her own course in life.

When I first heard of this film, I expected it to be a family friendly tale of another precocious teen. But, it is different. I vaguely recalled hearing of this story, but watching it was fascinating. This is more than the story of a sail around the world, it is the story of a teenager, maturing into a young woman. The Laura Dekker we see at the end of this film is a more mature, self-confident and introspective person than the teen we met at the start.This film is not an instructional video on sailing around the world, nor is it an inspiring tale to encourage others to follow her example. But it is a fascinating character study of one young woman, who seems to have been born to make this trip.I checked the 'spoiler' box, but come on... It is a real life story, how can there really be any spoilers? She survived the trip.

I actually watched this reluctantly because someone wanted to see it, and ended up loving it. Not for the plot - there really is no plot (documentaries do that at times) except for her voyage, and the events leading up to it. To me it was just amazing that a young girl could do such an adventure alone, while others of her age were much more worried about how many followers they had on Twitter. Much of the photography sucks (not like a cell phone is a real professional camera) - but that also adds to the feeling of realism, and pushes home the fact that there were no followers, no camera crews around - she was totally on her own. Unlike so many of the pseudo-documentaries this one is not filled with fake drama.