I believe that it was on New Year's Day when a friend recommended "Man on Wire". She said that she had thought of me while watching it with friends on New Year's Eve. She thought that I might like to see it. When I went to the video store, all the copies were rented out.
A few days later, another friend recommended "Slumdog Millionaire." Despite her distress in response to extreme violence toward children and scenes of torture that are at the center of the story, she said that the movie had changed her life in a positive way. We both experienced physical violence when we were children, so I trusted her recommendation and her warning about the subject matter. A third friend invited me to see that movie at a local independent theater. The movie is overwhelming on many levels, positive and negative. And difficult to recommend without warnings. There is a thread that runs through the movie that had to remind me of the lyrics of "My Back Pages":
Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
Rip down all hate, I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of MUSKETEERS
Foundationed deep, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.
On the day before yesterday, I rented "Man on Wire" and watched it yesterday afternoon. There was something that made me think of this video. The black suit, the tall hat, the juggling, the scenes on the bridge.
Then I remembered this:
do Not create anything, it will be
misinterpreted. it will not change.
it will follow you the
rest of your life. when asked what you
do for a living say you laugh for
a living. be suspicious of people
who say that if you are not nice
t' them, they will commit suicide.
when asked if you care about
the world's problems, look deeply
into the eyes of he that asks
you, he will not ask you again . . .
(from "Advice for Geraldine on her Miscellaneous Birthday")
After days and days of snow and unusually cold weather, we are experiencing our usual January weather, and that has caused some flooding in parts of Bellingham and Whatcom County. This is the first time in my memory that schools have been closed because of flooding in various areas of Whatcom County.
I recommend "Man on Wire."
