“The Walk”, An Exciting And Inspiring Film About A Daring Tightrope Act

I have some pretty fond memories of the World Trade Towers from my youth. Going to the top of them was always a fun thing to do as a kid and I did it many-a-times because of that. But one memory I don’t have from back then deals with something that happened between the two towers in 1974 and that’s only because I was two at the time. It was on the morning of August 7th of that year that Philippe Petit performed on a tightrope between both towers for over 45 minutes. And now 41 years later, his journey to that precise moment is chronicled quite well in Robert Zemeckis’s moving film, The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit.

When I first saw a preview of The Walk and learned what it was about, I wondered if they had enough material to keep viewers interested for its 2+ hour running time, especially when every single trailer only showed the extreme height of the towers and Petit balancing over the edge of one of them. But indeed, Zemeckis worked his magic once again, like I felt he did in the movie Flight with Denzel Washington. Spending much of the film focusing light-heartedly on Petit’s youth and how he became interested in doing his actual tightrope acts, I never found myself getting bored one bit with his screenplay.

While Joseph Gordon-Levitt may not have looked much like Pettit from the pictures I’ve seen of the actual Frenchman, he does do an absolutely superb job with his French accent and French dialogue. I also greatly appreciated watching Ben Kingsley play Petit’s mentor, Papa Rudy, who was the one that specifically taught him how to master the art of walking a tightrope.

What I liked best about The Walk though was the actual drive and inspiration that Philippe Petti had in life. Not once did he ever waiver from his dream to cross between the two Towers, even as he faced one difficult obstacle after another. And through it all, he still found a way to surpass such incredible odds and do something no other man ever did.

With so many of us giving up on our own quests in life all too often, especially when the going gets as rough as it does sometimes, Petit showed us that even the impossible is possible. This is why I’m thankful I took the time to watch this movie because it was a great motivator and reminder to not give up on the quest I’ve been on for the last bunch of years with my health and healing.

So if you are looking for an exciting and inspiring film, I recommend checking out The Walk. Robert Zemeckis has done such a fine job within it resurrecting both towers through the magic of Hollywood and helps to remind us through the eyes of one man named Philippe Petit, why they were so majestic in the first place. Oh and one final suggestion, watch it in 3D if you can, as the special effects definitely make you feel as if you are right there on the tightrope alongside Petit himself…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

What Do You Usually Watch On TV Before Going To Bed?

Do you regularly watch the same thing on television just before going to bed? This is a question I began asking myself when I saw my partner was tuning into the same program night after night just prior to falling asleep from the moment I met him.

From the onset, I found it rather funny when I saw him tune into The Golden Girls every single night just before he hit the hay. But as time went on, the more I realized there was a greater meaning behind this for him. It was a show that he and his mother used to constantly watch together when she was alive and now many years beyond her death, he still finds great comfort tuning into the reruns of this lighthearted and uplifting show.

Personally, I was never much of a fan of The Golden Girls, even with its good messages it often portrayed. Not that I thought it was a bad show because it wasn’t. In fact I thought it was well written. It just was never my cup of tea. But there was a television show I did like from not too long ago and it’s one I still tune into just prior to my own bedtime on many-a-nights. And that’s the well-known program that ran for a decade by the name of Friends.

I’m not sure why I’ve always found comfort in this show, as there isn’t anything from my past that I can remember that would fondly connect me to it. The reality is I’ve just found it very comforting late at night to watch the humor within each of its episodes, especially with Ross whom I’ve liked and related to the most since its first season.

Maybe it’s the laughter Friends always invokes within me that drives me to tune into episodes I watched and re-watched again and again. Or maybe the TV series just reminds me of a time when my life seemed far simpler. Regardless of the reason, I find it quite soothing to laugh at the silliness and antics of Friends late at night, especially on so many days as of late when I’ve been blue more than not.

The bottom line is that I think it’s extremely healthy to make sure I end each of my evenings doing something that either brings me happiness or joy. And while I continue to do that through puzzles, coloring, reading, and writing, I also frequently achieve that through something as simple as watching an old episode of Friends.

So it’s my hope that you might be doing the same, ending your evening on a cheerful note as well. And if by some chance, that’s through a television program, then maybe you’ll leave me a comment and share what it is you like to watch just prior to falling asleep and why…  🙂

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

“Everest”, A Tragic Factual Film That Can Still Inspire

There are some movies that are truly uplifting and I love writing about them. But there are also a few that are truly tragic that I occasionally like to write about as well and “Everest” is one of them.

Everest is the true story about an expedition up the famed mountain and centers around Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and his climbing company, Adventure Consultants. On May 10th, 1996, him and a team he’s leading are making their final ascent to the top when tragedy strikes in the form of a sudden and violent storm. Faced against some of Mother Nature’s harshest conditions imaginable, each fight for survival hoping to make it off the mountain alive.

I’ve watched plenty of similar movies over the years about the sport of climbing that include Touching the Void, Cliffhanger, and K2 to name just a few. But Everest was a little different for me given that I knew the fate of each of the climbers ahead of time, with their story being based on actual events. Yet watching it I still found myself hoping somehow they would all survive and wondering myself what I’d do if I ever had to face those incredible odds at such high elevations.

While I’m pretty sure I’ll never know, seeing that I don’t ever plan on ascending Mt. Everest in this lifetime, I do have to say that throughout the movie I found myself comparing my own journey in recent years to what was unfolding on the screen. Over the past five years or so, I’ve been climbing my own Mt. Everest of sorts, one that has been all about ascending out of the darkness, despair, toxicity and life of addiction that I lived for most of my life. There have been plenty of times though when I’ve wanted to give up, just like many climbers have done when ascending Mt. Everest. But even when those tumultuous weather conditions have battered and tore so many of those climbers apart and when the lack of oxygen beckoned many of them to give up, a few have still defied the odds and made it to the top and back down. I see this so similar to my own journey as of late as there have been far too many days when the conditions of my life have done the very same to me on the ascent of my own Mt. Everest. But so far I haven’t given up and neither did several of those climbers in the movie.

Take Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin) for example. It was his thoughts of his wife and kids that helped him to survive, even with all the odds were stacked against him. In my case, it’s been my constant thoughts and connection to my Higher Power that’s kept me going. Now I feel I’m right there just at my own summit, with only a few steps left before I begin my descent and although the “weather” has been battering me day in and day out telling me to turn back, I know my Higher Power is absolutely going to help me finish this journey.

In the end, I found the movie Everest to be somewhat inspiring, even in the midst of the tragic ending it had for several of the climbers, as it helped me to see that even though so many have failed to make it to the top of the magnificent mountain, there have been those who did defy all those unbelievable odds and experienced triumph and glory because of it. I’m going to be one of those with my own Everest, all thanks to God. I just can’t give up and I’m thankful that this movie reminded me that some do make it, even when facing the worst of odds.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson