The movie, “The Walk,” has recently become very popular as it has gotten excellent reviews.  The movie tells a story about a man, Philippe Petit, who is determined to fulfill his dream: to walk across a tightrope between the north and south towers of The World Trade Center.  The movie does a great job of building up to climax of the story.

It all started when Petit ventured to a local carnival in France.  The main act was conducted by a team of tightrope walkers which made him instantly interested.  From there, he began his tightrope career as he built his own in an open yard on which he practiced.  As he got older, he realized he wanted to make this a profession, although his parents strongly disapproved as they ultimately kicked him out of the house.  He started performing on his tightrope in the streets of Paris as it was his only option to make money.

One day, Petit had seen a picture of the Twin Towers as they were in the middle of being built in New York.  At this point in his life, tightrope walking was no longer a hobby or a way to make money, but an aspiration.  However, he had to start small.  A common saying is that one needs to learn how to crawl before he learns how to walk; he needs to learn how to walk before he learns how to run.  Therefore, instead of going straight to the World Trade Center, he walked across the well-known Towers of Notre Dame, which were much shorter and closer together.  After this, Petit was off to New York.

He got off the subway and simply glanced in bewilderment at the enormous height of the Twin Towers.  Even though he classified the task as impossible, he figured he would give it a try.  To pursue his goal, he used several disguises to sneak his way through the Twin Towers.  By doing this, he was able to obtain important measurements including the distance between the two towers.

Finally, Petit achieved his goal on August 6 in 1974 as he “danced on top of the world.”  Although this goal was “very risky and dangerous,” sophomore Sunny Patel claims, this was the best moment of Petit’s life.  After his performance, he was arrested.  However, because of his breath-taking act, all of his charges were dropped.  Instead, he was sentenced to perform a tightrope walk in central park for children which he took great pleasure in.