The Walk: a metaphor for the journey of life

The Walk narrates story of a rope-walker Philippe Petit who achieves his ambition to walk between the twin towers in NYC with the help of his friends and mentor. This is an organic movie, it is based on a true story. While watching the movie I realized The Walk is a metaphor for the journey of life, while the experience and emotions vary depending on the type of walk: ramp walk, cake walk to fire walk. 

A tight screenplay 

As a result of doing a course on screenplay writing, I noticed things that I may not have noticed otherwise. Every character in the movie was introduced to establish the premise (conflict), etched out to further develop the premise and finally resolve the conflict. Each character also had an internal struggle that was resolved before the end of the movie. 

The journey of a hero

We all need a mentor in life. Some go in search of him/her, while some wait for her/him to arrive. Ramana Maharishi says, 'the guru appears when you are ready', while Paul Coelho in Alchemist says, 'the Universe conspires to fulfill your desires'. 

According Joseph Campbell's explanation of the Hero's Journey, the hero/protagonist needs a mentor and Papi Rudy in the movie plays  that role for Philippe thereby helping him achieve his ambition. 

All of us are heroes in our respective journeys and it is important that we develop an ambition and cultivate discipline, focus and dedication, which are pre-requisites for appearance of the guru and progress towards our ambition.

In between 

Apart from the mentor, you can see how characters make their entries to help Philippe in his journey, while resolving their inner conflicts in the process. A mathematics teacher helps Philippe with the calculations and in the process improves his spoken English and gets over agoraphobia, fear of heights and a Jean, a photographer, takes pictures of Philippe crossing the towers thereby establishing his career as a photographer.

Ambition and calling

In the process of achieving our ambition, some of us get attached to certain characters, while some others develop a grudge against those who leave. The last scene in the movie is a lesson on why people exit our lives. Anna, Philippe's girl friend who came over to the US to support him in his dream to finally leaves for Paris. When Philippe asks her to stay back she says, 'you had a calling from the Twin Towers, while I am waiting for mine'. What a profound statement to make and not succumb to the transient emotion/ambition called love. I admired the confidence in the woman work towards defining her ambition and wait for her call, and not being afraid or hesitant to help Philippe without expecting anything in return.

Though many of us seem to have understood the larger purpose of life, sometimes we make efforts to fully take control of it. We are cautious who we let into our lives; we question their purpose and want know our role in their ambition or in resolving their conflicts and vice verse. But in reality, we have no control over who walks in and out of our lives.

In all, The Walk is about a call and an ambition. It explains why people enter and exit our lives and how one needs to look at the purpose of life without getting too attached to our friends, family, and mentors. Most importantly, it helps us resolve our conflicts. 

So, go take a walk!