LIFE IS BUT A DREAM

Dreams, hopes, desires:  no one is born without them, and very few of us pursue them.  Dreams don’t always have to be as big as running a country; anyone who’s been on a first date arranged via email knows that manifesting a stable family life is a hell of a lot more complicated than the pursuit of wealth or power.  Difficulty, however, is no reason to stay home and avoid life:  how much do we owe it to ourselves to leap into the void, and how little explanation do we owe to anyone who merely stands by and watches?  These were questions that went through the mind of Philippe Petit as he grew up dreaming a ridiculous fantasy: to walk a tightwire strung between the top-most points of New York City’s Twin Towers.   Last month saw the DVD release of the multi-award-winning documentary Man On Wire, which charts the accomplishment of Petit’s 1974 “artistic crime of the century”. Not only did Petit accomplish his goal, but his Pied-Piper personality

 attracted a crew of people who helped him (at great risk to themselves) simply because his passion was inspiring. In description the task seems a bit silly, yet gazing at the photographs and footage depicted so beautifully in the film and listening to the testimony of those who witnessed the event, it’s hard to see Petit’s stunt as anything but magical.  Given that the site of the Twin Towers has been associated with devastation for the last seven years, its being romanticized in this masterpiece is a welcome tribute to the fact that a dream made real is anything but silly.  Put down The Secret and go outside, it’s time to walk the wire.  Man On Wire is available for rent on DVD from Mongrel Media.

- April 2009