William Aliotti’s Fear Safari Across South Australia

Desert Rats is a 40-minute film following William Aliotti on a three-week, 9,000-kilometer death march along South Australia’s most remote and hostile stretch of coastline.

You could file it under surf film, road movie, survival documentary, or slapstick comedy all at once. Whichever angle you choose, it’s a testament to the obsessive behaviour that pulls certain people into situations and places where most humans have no business being.

Aliotti, one of free surfing’s most interesting figures, is joined by former French/Australian lifeguard and big-wave charger Pierre Caley, along with longtime friend and fellow lifeguard Matt Hollman. Their sole purpose was to find slabs on a coastline that could be described as the edge of the world, which, quite literally, it is.

Beyond the surfing, the film documents the monotony and madness of remote surf exploration, with a touch of humour and lunacy that tends to take place when there’s enough distance and time from civilization.

Former Australian pro surfer Garrett Parkes makes an appearance, adding gravitas to an already intense mission through the shark-patrolled Southern Ocean. During filming, an attack occurred just kilometres from where the crew was surfing, a sobering reminder of the new normal for surfing in Australia.

There’s perhaps a twisted joke in William’s departure just as an ideal swell finally arrives, but Desert Rats is very much worth a watch, especially if you’ve got a little time to kill.