by Marc-Olivier, Sébastien & Patrick
These blogs are going to discuss the different aspects
of being a hero. In most cases a hero is a regular person who performs an
extraordinary act. There are three phases of being a hero. They are separation,
initiation and return. The first blog will discuss the film Touching The Void Directed by Kevin
Macdonald. The second blog is about the documentary Man on A Wire Directed by James Marsh. Both of these films
portrayed a hero. The final blog is about reflection and analysis. We hope you
enjoy reading these blogs.
1-Touching the
Void
Touching the Void is a movie
directed by Kevin MacDonald and produced by John Smithson in 2003. This
United-Kingdom product of 106 minutes carries us in Joe Simpson and Simon Yates
attempt to climb the Siula Grande in Peru.
In 1985, the
two adventurers decided that they would climb this enormous mountain of about
6 344 meters of height. They first had to travel to Peru and after they
had to walk miles and miles to reach a good spot to install their camp. Nobody
had ever reached the top of the mountain. There was no rescue and absolutely no
margin for error. They had some good experience in climbing. They finally
started to climb the mountain. Everything went well in their climbing before
reaching a great amount of snow at the top part of the mountain. They finally
achieved to reach the top after some minor obstacles like the wind and
darkness.
They had planned to descend via the north side of the
mountain but that ended up as a bad decision. The descent was very difficult
and they faced many obstacles. It was dangerous and steep. There were many
crevasses that made their path complicated. They didn’t know what they would
hit further and they ran out of gas. They knew they couldn’t survive a long
time without gas so they accelerate their descent. Their bad luck wasn’t over.
Joe slipped and had a bad landing that broke his right leg. They found a very
clever way to continue moving on. They tied two ropes together and descent Joe
slowly till the end of the rope. Then, Simon was reaching Joe and they kept
doing that over and over. Suddenly, Simon didn’t have the signal of Joe to
untie the ropes so that he could cross the tie through his equipment and
continue the descent. He waited an hour and a half without any news from Joe.
Joe couldn’t give the signal because he was hanging in the air over a crevasse.
About to fall and tired, Simon decided to cut the rope. Joe fell in the bottom
of the crevasse. Simon descended and saw the rope in the crevasse but he
decided to move on without Joe that he believed dead. He finally reached the camp.
Joe had survived and was stuck in the crevasse. He decided to go the bottom of
it where might be an exit. It was a successful decision. For the rest of the
descent, Joe crawled between the crevasses and he was completely frozen, he was
dehydrated and he was starting to become crazy but he never gave up. For three
days, Joe crawled and tried to reach the base camp. He finally reached it and
screamed till Simon heard him and the impossible happened they, both survived this miraculous
adventure.
This movie is an alternation between a fictive representation of the events and an interview made with the two survivors and the one that stayed at the camp. We follow what happened throughout the movie with the comments of the guys saying what they felt and what they thought.
This week topic is Hero and Quests. Heroes are
regular people like you and I, placed in extraordinary situations. Simon and
Joe were ordinary people but were considered as heroes after they had survived
to their adventure in Peru. Some people don’t recognize the hero or disdain him
and that is what happened with Simon when people criticized him because he cut
the rope. All heroes technically follow the same pattern. They all go through a
circle explaining that they all live a separation (from their regular world)
before living their adventure (initiation) and then come back to their regular
world with a certain experience. It’s exactly what happened to Joe and Simon.
They leaved their own little world for Peru. They walked miles and miles to
reach their starting point (separation). They lived their adventure that became
almost a disaster and they both survived (initiation). They came back to
regular life and even continue climbing. They have growth from this.
2-Man on wire
The documentary film Man on a Wire is about a tightrope walker named Philippe Petit. He
was raised in France with strict parents; therefore, he liked to push the rules
to the limit. At seventeen he built a tightrope in the back garden. As he
became better and better, he built higher and longer tightropes. He, also,
started juggling and performing stunts while on the tightrope. His tightropes looked exactly like the
professional kind you’ll see at a circus.
Because he wanted to push the limit, he wanted to
tightrope across places people would never imagine. The first place he tried to
do this was at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, June 1971. It was a very
successful event. Many pictures were taken and people were amazed. The next
time he tried a big event was in 1973 near the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
His friends and he rigged the tightrope wire at night. He walked and performed
in the morning hours for everyone to see. These events were illegal and he was
arrested.
The main focus of this documentary is about how
Philippe and a group of his close friends wanted to rig a tightrope across the
two towers of the World Trade Center. Philippe would, again, perform early in
the morning. He visualized this idea for many years before the twin towers were
finished being built. This documentary tells a detailed story of Philippe and
his friends quest to achieve the impossible event of Philippe tightrope walking
a quarter of a mile above the ground.
Philippe stopped at nothing to succeed at his dreams.
No matter what he needed to complete this quest; almost as if it was an
obsession. As a young person he did not want to conquer the universe he wanted,
as a poet, to conquer beautiful stages. He believed that walking on a tightrope
was framed with death. During the documentary, just before stepping on the wire
he stated “Probably the end of my life. I could not resist it and I did not
want to.”
The main concept we covered in class was that heroes
are regular people who achieve incredible goals. Philippe spent many years and
many trips back and forth from France to New York City to plan this
performance. Again, it fits the pattern of heroes because he had a separation from
his world to go to New-York, he lived his moment on the wire and it changed
him, but he still believes it was the right thing to do. He believed “If I die, what a beautiful death”
it was an exercise of his passion. He was an amazing athlete and performer who
wanted to have a stage like never seen before. His talent was not only as a
tightrope walker but as a visionary. He could see the impossible and convince other
people to help him achieve it. This is the characteristic of a true artist and
hero.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zegboN3w1Dw (To watch! What is a hero?)
3- Personal reflection
3- Personal reflection
Touching the Void and Man
on Wire are quite emotionally strong movies. They document events that seem
almost impossible that they could have occurred. But they are very real. In
order to succeed at their established goal, both Joe Simpson and Phillippe
Petit, the heroes of these stories, had to go through their own unique and
difficult journey. The obstacles that they must overcome are terrifying and put
their skills and determination to the test.
In both
documentaries, a dream to conquer the unknown and undiscovered pushes the hero
to leave on his quest. In Man on Wire,
Phillippe Petit’s dream almost seems like an obsession. He already dreams up
his “Coup” before the Twin Towers are even built. All that he does, he does
with his goal in mind. This shows that the most important thing to do is to
dream about what you want, and then to strive to achieve these dreams, because
once you accomplish them, it will bring such joy and exhilaration that it will
change your life forever. Petit says, “I cannot just calmly recall the
adventure”, “I have to relive it truly”, showing just how significant and
overwhelming his experience was. His life was forever different after having
crossed the tight rope between the two tallest buildings in the world (at that
time), another step had begun.
This is similar, but not completely the same
in Touching the Void. Joe Simpson
achieves his initial goal of getting to the peak of the Siula Grande, and feels
great accomplishment, but that is not where his real journey begins. Only once
he injures himself badly during the descent down the treacherous mountain, and
then falls into the perilous crevasse, does his adventure truly start. The
whole religious allegory in the crevasse, which could be referred to as the
Valley of the Shadow of Death, makes us wonder about religious belief, life and
death. Who would we turn to in our time of despair? What would we think about? Joe
turns out to be a complete atheist, and feels abandoned and alone. He gives up
on life, and the only thing that drives him forward towards getting off the
mountain is the thought of not wanting to die alone, but with someone at his
side. This demonstrates that people really need one another, they are not meant
to be left alone, mostly during such difficult times. The fact that Joe makes
it to almost the base of the mountain is just amazing and awe-inspiring. Human
determination should not be underestimated. It is what made Joe and Phillipe’s
goal and dreams possible. One must first dream, and then do everything in order
to make it possible. Patience is often necessary, as some things may take a lot
of time to do.
Following your
dreams and passions will bring feelings of great joy and accomplishment in your
life. Going away from our safe, ordinary, every-day lives and going somewhere
or doing something that requires you to take risks and live in the moment is
how these heroes think is the best way to feel alive.
To be a
hero requires determination, perseverance and hard work. It can also entail a
bit of luck and a strong belief in achieving the goal. Joe Simpson in the film
“Touching the Void” had such a strong desire to live. He walked down a mountain
with a broken leg. In the documentary “Man on A Wire” Philippe Petit showed how
dreams can become a reality. He performed an amazing feat. Both of these men
are heroes in their own right. No one has ever done a task as extraordinary as
they have.
I absolutely loved the summary that you guys posted, it is very detailed. The clips were also great, loved that i got to see simon talking about his adventure and cutting the rope. I wanted to add that this movie is not just for mountain climbers, but it is for everybody. We can learn so many lessons from this documentary and that is why i believe that it is so great. Simon and Joe had a goal which was to reach the top of the mountain and they did it. They had lots of determination and they had faith that everything would work out. This documentary teaches us all that we can accomplish anything if we try hard enough and never give up . I love that they could have given up at any given time, however, they stuck to it until the end no matter how hard it was on them mentally and physically. They trained a lot, but nothing could have prepared them enough for the journey that they embarked on. They must have felt as if they could conquer the world after they achieved their goal. I personally loved how they spoke about their journey while we were watching them climbing the mountain. We got some insight as to what they were feeling and thinking every step of the way!
ReplyDeleteTouching the Void was an intense and amazing documentary. I think it rung a bell because Simon and Joe were so down to earth and vulnerable that there’s an instant sense of empathy towards them. Besides the message of how anyone can be a “hero”, I thought that both these documentaries were very humbling and reminded us that we aren’t always on top of the world. Fortunately, “Touching the Void” has a positive ending that reveals true human strength.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis!
Serena Potts
Great blog entry, you guys put many details into your summaries and personal reflection and it really made the blog a lot better. I agree that to be a hero, it requires determination, perseverance and hard work but you also need confidence. For example, Phillipe Petit had the confidence to walk across the world trade center on a rope. He never seemed to look at the negatives but always looked towards the positives. Every individual, that is trying to achieve something, needs the confidence that they are going to make it. This helps you believe in yourself more and it will help you become a hero.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Palaic
Touching the Void was a great documentary. Simon and Joe taught us all about true heroes. We should always apply ourselves and never give up in order to achieve our goals in life. Personally, I enjoyed the part where Joe was stuck in the crevice by himself. This part really tested the strength of Joe.
ReplyDeleteHarshar Srinivasan
I loved the summary that you guys did on this entry, it explains very well what is the role of the hero in our society. I also loved how we can associate the two main characters to the circle "The journey of the hero", in fact every aspect are represented. I loved how this film shows us how two normal individuals can accomplish great things only by keeping faith in what they're doing and never giving up. That's what a real hero do!
ReplyDeleteAlex Grenier
I enjoyed reading your blog very much; it had lots of useful information and covered the grand majority of the topics of the documentary. However, I would make some changes if it were my blog: first, when summarising the touching the Void documentary, I would mention the name of the mountain they climbed. I would also, have liked to have seen more detail in the first part of the description, I found it very vague. Moreover, Joe didn't fall to the bottom of the crevasse, because if not he never would have had to climb down it. To continue, in your personal reflection you say "both Joe Simpson and Phillippe Petit, the heroes of these stories, had to go through their own unique and difficult journey," what about Simon? Is he not a hero to Touching the Void and did he not have his "own unique and difficult journey?" All and all, a few things I would have changed but still a good blog that gives us the base of the information we need.
ReplyDelete-Amelia Gareau
I'll start off by saying that you guys did really well on the blog. I love that you included the interviews! You also really got me wanting to watch Man on a Wire! This documentary is by far my favorite that we've watched in class up to date because it had me on the edge of my seat! Even though we know the two men survive, it didn't stop me from being nervous throughout the entire film! I never felt that way while watching a documentary, in fact I'd only expect to feel that way while watching a feature film, like a thriller or an action movie! To me, this not only reflects the incredible job that the director did, but also the remarkable, and awe-inspiring story that was told! These men are only human, but I admire them so much and put them on a pedestal...they're heros!
ReplyDeleteLucila B
You guys had an informative and well put together blog. Touching the void has definitely been my favorite documentary that we have watch so far because it truly is a cliffhanger. One on end you have these two guys who are facing terrible and almost impossible conditions, yet at the same time you see them giving the interviews. It really made you wonder how on earth Joe managed to make it out alive. This movie just goes to show the true extent of what humans are made of and giving the worst circumstances, it is still important to try and push the limits of the body.
ReplyDeleteEvan R
Great job Marc-Olivier Cheney, Sébastien Charron and Patrick Lubczynski. I must say that I completely loved the personal reflection section of the blog. They language used was at some times rather poetic and as a reader it made me feel very connected. I peculiarly admired when you wrote "One must first dream, and then do everything in order to make it possible.", dreams are just fantasy without ambition. I suppose in a way everyone has that potential to become a Hero, being that all of us dream, however it is only those dreamers who push forward who prevail.
ReplyDeleteDanielle Mac Rae
Well first of all, great job on the documentary summaries guys. I found them to be quite descriptive and precise even though I found there was a small lack of flow/continuity between the sentences.
ReplyDeleteSecondly I completely agree that heroes like Simon Yates, Joe Simpson and Phillippe Petit are people just like us but that become heroes through their experiences and quests. I also however think that to be a hero you must have a certain devotion and character in regards to what you try to accomplish. Simon and Joe for example, loved Mountain climbing and were motivated and passionate about facing this challenge. Overall a very descriptive and complete blog guys. Good Job!
-Etienne Poulin
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog. Touching the void still amazes me of how your life can change from one second to another when put into a life and death situation. Many people criticize Simon Yates for his decision to cut the rope. When he actually cut the rope, I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if I could have done the same thing. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about how easy it is to criticize someone. Until your put into a desperate situation choosing between living and dying answers on what choices to make become pretty clear.
ReplyDeleteChris Ernst
Touching the Void was by far the best documentary I've seen! There was suspense, drama and it’s also based on a true story which makes it even more interesting since Joe had to travel all the way to the camp by himself with a broken leg with no food or even water. After watching the film it taught me that it doesn't take a man with superpowers or a cape to be a hero, a hero could be anyone of us. A family member, a friend, a teacher etc… It also showed me how to never give up no matter what because for me if I have trouble with something, I leave it be and don’t ever bother to fix it but in Joe’s case, he could have stayed wherever he was and wait to die but he kept moving forward which I believe that no matter what never give up which was the moral of the whole movie.
ReplyDelete-Shashi Roy
Amazing job on the blog! Touching the Void is definitely one of my favourite movies we have watched in class. I really enjoyed it because it kept me interested like an action movie, but at the same with the interviews throughout the movie we felt the emotions of Simon and Joe throughout their journey. I really enjoyed the interviews but I especially loved the video about What is a Hero? Although it was short and simple it was so insightful. Hearing what each person had to say made me realize everyone has their own opinion about what a hero is. It was also nice to see that none of them really said a hero is a big tough guy, because in reality anyone can be a hero or do heroic things. I also really liked your personal reflection because you guys put in your own opinion about what a hero is. Overall great work!
ReplyDeleteNathalie T
The movie touching the void did a amazing job with re-enacting the events of the two climbers to make it look really intense, which i'm sure it was. I don't think i necessarily agree with the hero circle, but it does encompase the way most heroes are. All in all, good blog.
ReplyDelete-Devin Laderoute
First of all, good job for the blogs. You explained in detail both films and I found your analysis interesting. In my case I particularly loved them both. In our society, medias tend to show too much sadness and despair and not enough heroic acts. Therefore, we are often pushed to seek heroic actions through fiction film. It is sad because every person has the power to be heroic in some ways. Sadly, these exploits mostly stay in the shadow and thats why, I think, it is important to honour them in any ways possible.
ReplyDeleteEtienne