Man On Wire (Cameron Smith)

Man On Wire: Walking on Top of the World

    This film was great for a few reasons: 1) The cinematography itself was a work of genius; 2) The non-diegetic music and film-noir elements were just... awesome; and 3) It's great message inspired me! You'll see why the third one is so as I delve more into this. A documentary of a true event, this story is of a man named Philippe Petit who had accomplished the impossible. His dream: to become an expert tightrope walker and walk between the Twin Towers. With the support of his friends Jean Louis, Mark the Australian, Alan, David and girlfriend Annie, he would be successful in doing so. At times, the intentions of Petit are unclear. Are his dreams to achieve something great, to kick fear in the head and therefore become more of himself? Or is it simply a death wish?

    Philippe knew from the start that this was a life or death situation, but alas, he went for it and accomplished his biggest dream and experienced the greatest moment of his life. The entire message of the film is described in the words of Petit himself at the end of the film:

 Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge - and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope.

I personally think we should all learn from Petit's example and words. We should not be shells of ourselves; we should not aspire to nothing, and we should take risks. Who am I if I do not step up and face my fears? Who am I if I don't live life on a tightrope?