James Marsh's documentary Man On Wire is captivating on many fronts. The film tells the story of the French, high-wire-walker, Philippe Petit's illegal performance between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974.
First, there is the Ocean's 11-like scheming, planning and executing of the long planned performance. Or, there is the fertile ground which spawned such an amazing feat: the bohemian, play-infused life-style that Philippe and his friends live. And then we experience the glaring paradox between what the twin towers inspired Philippe to do, and what it inspired others to do on September 11, 2001.
But none of these are the layer that most thrilled and moved me.
Philippe's simple understanding of himself, and his grasp on the reason for his being in this world, makes him a person most worth experiencing. Maybe because I am at the age where mid-life crisis sets in, or because I spend so much time around college undergrads that constantly wrestle with the direction of their life, but the focus and direction that Philippe Petit exhibited from a young age strikes me as marvelous.
Last month, the delightful short film Laundry & Tosca [watch here] introduced me to an equally inspiring woman named Marcia Whitehead. While Marcia has taken a more legal approach to self expression (opera singer), she has poured no less blood, sweat and tears into her work. Marcia's story is deeply inspiring.
Vocation is a tricky thing. Just this morning I explained to my almost three year-old son that not everyone has money to go to the store, to buy what they want or need. (His response to not having something is always "we need to go to the store and buy some!") When he asked me why not, I told him it may be because they do not have a job. This lead me to explain the reason why I leave to go to work-so we are able to buy things.
It is amazing how messed up life sounds when you try to explain it to a little kid. I'm not sure what is more disturbing to tell my son: some people don't have a job, or the job that I have is simply a means to our financial ends.
Both feel like a twisted, broken reality in our world.
Sometimes I wonder if most people really don't know who they are. Or perhaps they just don't have the nerve to become that person.
May Philippe and Marcia forever stand as pictures of what it looks like to perform life well.
Man On Wire Trailer:
