Maya and the Wave

Adam Benzine of Deadline highlighted the film as "beautiful and inspiring" as well as "magnificent," noting its in-depth look at Gabeira’s injury, rehabilitation, and eventual comeback. The review compared the documentary to Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel, emphasizing that while it appears to be a glossy sports documentary, it delves deeper into themes of recovery from traumatic injury.^[4]

Nikki Baughan's review in ScreenDaily praised the film for being "as narratively strong as it is visually impressive." Baughan noted, "Johnes captures the sport’s ingrained sexism, even from those who would claim to support Gabeira," and the film draws parallels between Gabeira's rebellious spirit and her activist father, Fernando Gabeira.^[5]

Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote a mostly positive review, remarking, "the film more than succeeds in its primary goals of providing an inspirational role model plus lots of stupendous surfing footage, a combination that will enthrall most viewers." However, he felt that the film's narrative was sometimes poorly organized, and it failed to adequately examine the complicated relationship between Gabeira and her "first major mentor and coach," Carlos Burle.^[6]

Writing for RogerEbert.com, Marya E. Gates commended the film’s unique approach, noting that “what makes Maya such a compelling subject and Johnes’ portrait of her so different from films about male surf legends, is Gabeira’s willingness to admit her fear,” which sets her apart from the typical adrenaline-driven narrative of big wave surfing.^[7]

• Maya and the Wave at IMDb