Mythical about a Swedish skateboard legend in The scars of Ali Boulala

For skateboarders

born in the 80's, Ali Boulala's story was shrouded in myth.

The ultra-talented guy who became a pro and moved to California when he was only 16 years old to party and go boarding but was deported from the United States due to unspecified trouble with the law.

In 2007, the wild career ended due to a tragic accident.

The scars of Ali Boulala

are based on the present when Boulala is at home in Sweden.

He joins old skateboards with his mother and shows cups he bought in places around the world.

But he does not remember much from the trips, he explains.

In the archive material from the 90s, we understand why.

Boulala and his

friends in Huntington Beach founded the infamous collective "Piss drunx".

A name taken from a line in

, and an attitude of "fuck everything".

Boulala and his friends were rewarded for all the crazy boy jokes and constant alcohol consumption with more attention, and they became iconic in the skateboarding world.

In 2001, Rolling Stone published a report entitled "The most dysfunctional and degenerate individuals who have ever done an ollie" (the first trick a skater learns).

There, professional skier Jay Strickland (who returns in Eriksson's documentary) explained how they considered calling their skateboard

but reasoned that parents probably would not send their kids to school with such clothes.

Instead, they named the brand Baker Skateboards after Boulala, as he "used to hang out all day and be baked."

In

, Ali says that his friends protested after he smoked crack, but for him it was proof that he was the worst of all at the party.

The documentary then goes into depth with when the partying derails and Boulala handles a deep sadness and guilt over the consequences.

In the late 90s and early 00s, skateboarding was less of a sport and more like the music industry, where popularity was at least as important as skills.

Boulala was fearless, did elegant tricks and built his image around doing what he felt for and shitting in what everyone thought.

At the same time, it appears in the documentary that he was self-conscious and could spend hours fixing his hair.

The skateboarding culture

may have grown from the same roots as surfing, but instead of tanned surfers who dated good-looking girls, skate was a refuge for outcast kids with anarchist tendencies.

Boulala embraced the punk culture of California and a mentality that was natural in a life that involved running away from the police and using ignored asphalt to create his own artistic expression.

The scars of Ali Boulala

often capture the individualistic sense of freedom of the subculture and the lure of intoxication without portraying the destructive behavior.

Skateboarding attracts people with an obsession and a deeply personal pursuit.

"Like being at war with oneself," explains professional skier Kevin "Spanky" Long.

Nicely illustrated when Boulala failed with a trick and spends several minutes smashing his board into small pieces - an experience most skateboarders can relate to.