Watching a child learn how to swim is like witnessing a great opera. It is a story filled with intense agony and ecstasy, absurdism, fear, hope, despair, joy, connection and love. Some vomit. And belching. Lots of belching.

The maestro of this emotional orchestra is Bill Marsh. Bill makes kids feel safe and free and respectful of the water and their place in it. He’s basically Mr. Rogers in chlorine. Swimming is the closest human beings will ever get to flying. And there is no greater joy (or fear) than watching your kid take the leap. Watching Bill teach kids how to swim is the parable we need, because inside his lessons are profound universal truths.

We see this film not as a biography of Bill, but as kids learning how to Swim through Bill’s teachings, which becomes beloved wisdom for us all.