Review of Andy Irons: Kissed by God (2018) by Susan G — 31 May 2018

It is a love story and much bigger than surfing. I'm not even a surfing fan. But it was gratifying to see how surfing saved a boy frustrated by his dyslexia and deeply hurt by his parents' divorce. The villains in this movie that get very little screen time are the Pharmaceutical executives, the FDA, and the AMA who decided it would be a good idea to put heroine in easy to swallow pill form and allow it to be widely prescribed for aches and pains of young, healthy athletes (not to mention the rest of the population).

That's the biggest takeaway from this moving, heartbreaking documentary.

Why are the villains able to get away with this?

My only criticism is that it would be a stronger film with more laughs, because to process such a human tragedy we badly need comic relief. Footage showing how Andy made Lyndie laugh would be welcome. Andy had a 1000 watt smile as did she they looked so in love, so beautiful together.

If there's time for edits before it moves to DVD/streaming surely the filmmakers could find some footage of funny Bride and Groom toasts to include? Because that was the most uplifting thing about the movie--how much he and Lyndie and she him and how that nearly saved him from the tragedy of addiction. "He didn't want to party anymore, all he wanted was to be with Lyndie.".

Thank God Lyndie has the gift of their healthy son Axel...but if he is ever injured one hopes she will be right by his bedside rejecting any Rx of innocent looking tiny little Oxycontin pills.

Damn the devil Oxycontin; it needs to be banned in pill form outside of hospitals.

The biggest lie exposed in this movie comes from the pharmaceutical company quote put on screen that "Less than 1% become addicted.".

I know a grandmother in her 80s who got addicted after surgery. She overcame it, but with great difficulty. My father was given it after surgery and it gave him hallucinations, get pills out of the house he said when we took him home and I came home from CVS with a bottle full... "they made me crazy.".

These are church-going, straight and narrow grandparents of the greatest generation who never took a recreational drug in their lives being given heroin! WTF, medical community? Like the surfer said, "This stuff is prescribed by your DOCTOR, you get it from the CVS, it's just a very tiny pill, you trust that it's safe.".

In 7th grade I saw a film called Scared Straight along with other distrubing films about what drugs like LSD and other "recreational" drugs do to the brain.

I know such films don't save every kid from drug abuse, but they sure deterred me from temptation. I didn't want to destroy my brain.

Every teen should see Andy Irons, Kissed by God. Whenever there is tragedy we hope some good will come from it. This film is that good.