Philippe Petit: The journey across the high wire

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevodilac: Jelena Ilisić Lektor: Ivana Korom

This sound,

Ovaj zvuk,

this smell,

ovaj miris,

this sight

ovaj prizor

all remind me of the campfires of my childhood,

sve me podseća na logorske vatre mog detinjstva,

when anyone could become a storyteller in front of the dancing flames.

kad je svako mogao postati pripovedač ispred plamena koji pleše.

There was this wondrous ending

Postojao je čudesan kraj

when people and fire fell asleep almost in unison.

kada bi i ljudi i vatra zaspali gotovo u istom trenutku.

It was dreaming time.

Bilo je to vreme snova.

Now my story has a lot to do with dreaming,

Moja priča ima mnogo veze sa snovima,

although I'm known to make my dreams come true.

iako sam poznat po tome što svoje snove ostvarujem.

Last year, I created a one-man show.

Prošle godine, napravio sam svoju predstavu.

For an hour and a half I shared with the audience

Sat i po delio sam sa publikom

a lifetime of creativity,

svoj kreativni životni vek,

how I pursue perfection, how I cheat the impossible.

kako sam tražio savršenstvo, kako sam prevario nemoguće.

And then TED challenged me:

I onda mi je TED postavio izazov:

"Philippe, can you shrink this lifetime to 18 minutes?"

"Filipe, možeš li da smanjiš to na 18 minuta?"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Eighteen minutes, clearly impossible.

Osamnaest minuta, jasno da je nemoguće.

But here I am.

Ali, evo me ovde.

One solution was to rehearse a machine gun delivery

Jedno od rešenja bilo je da probam "mitraljesko" izlaganje

in which every syllable, every second will have its importance

gde bi svaki glas, svaki sekund, imao svoju važnost,

and hope to God the audience will be able to follow me.

i da molim boga da će publika biti u stanju da me prati.

No, no, no.

Ne, ne, ne.

No, the best way for me to start

Ne, najbolji način da počnem

is to pay my respects to the gods of creativity.

je da odam poštovanje bogovima kreativnosti.

So please join me for a minute of silence.

Molim vas pridružite mi se u minuti ćutanja.

Okay, I cheated, it was a mere 20 seconds.

Okej, varao sam, prošlo je samo 20 sekundi.

But hey, we're on TED time.

Ali hej, imamo TED vreme.

When I was six years old,

Kada sam imao šest godina,

I fell in love with magic.

zaljubio sam se u magiju.

For Christmas I got a magic box

Za Božić sam dobio magičnu kutiju

and a very old book on card manipulation.

i veoma staru knjigu o manipulaciji kartama.

Somehow I was more interested in pure manipulation

Nekako sam više bio zainteresovan za čistu manipulaciju

than in all the silly little tricks in the box.

nego za blesave male trikove u kutiji.

So I looked in the book for the most difficult move,

Potražio sam u knjizi najteži potez,

and it was this.

i bio je to ovaj.

Now I'm not supposed to share that with you,

Sad, ne bi trebalo da delim to s vama,

but I have to show you the card is hidden in the back of the hand.

ali moram vam pokazati da je karta skrivena iza ruke.

Now that manipulation

Ova manipulacija

was broken down into seven moves

je bila rastavljena na sedam pokreta,

described over seven pages.

opisanih na preko sedam strana.

One, two, three,

Jedan, dva, tri,

four, five, six and seven.

četiri, pet, šest i sedam.

And let me show you something else.

I da vam pokažem još nešto.

The cards were bigger than my hands.

Karte su bile veće od mojih šaka.

Two months later, six years old,

Dva meseca kasnije, sa šest godina,

I'm able to do one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

mogao sam da uradim jedan, dva, tri, četiri, pet, šest, sedam.

And I go to see a famous magician

I otišao sam da vidim poznatog mađioničara

and proudly ask him, "Well what do you think?"

i ponosno ga pitao: "Pa šta misliš?"

Six years old.

Šestogodišnjak.

The magician looked at me and said, "This is a disaster.

Mađioničar me pogledao i rekao: "To je katastrofa.

You cannot do that in two seconds

Ne možeš to raditi dve sekunde

and have a minuscule part of the card showing.

i najmanji deo karte ne sme da se vidi.

For the move to be professional, it has to be less than one second

Da bi potez bio profesionalan, mora biti kraći od jedne sekunde

and it has to be perfect."

i mora biti savršen."

Two years later, one -- zoop.

Dve godine kasnije, jedan - hop.

And I'm not cheating. It's in the back. It's perfect.

I ne varam. Iza je. Savršeno je.

Passion is the motto

Strast je moto

of all my actions.

svih mojih dela.

As I'm studying magic,

Dok sam izučavao magiju,

juggling is mentioned repeatedly

stalno se spominjalo žongliranje,

as a great way to acquire dexterity and coordination.

kao sjajan način za sticanje spretnosti i koordinacije.

Now I had long admired how fast and fluidly

Dugo sam se divio tome kako su brzo i fluidno

jugglers make objects fly.

žongleri bacali predmete.

So that's it. I'm 14; I'm becoming a juggler.

I to je to. Imam 14 godina; postajem žongler.

I befriend a young juggler in a juggling troupe,

Sprijateljio sam se sa mladim žonglerom u žonglerskoj trupi,

and he agrees to sell me three clubs.

i pristao je da mi proda tri palice.

But in America you have to explain. What are clubs?

Ali u Americi moram da objasnim. Šta su palice?

Nothing to do with golf.

Nema veze sa golfom.

They are those beautiful oblong objects,

To su ovi lepi obli predmeti,

but quite difficult to make.

ali prilično ih je teško napraviti.

They have to be precisely lathed.

Moraju se precizno izbrusiti.

Oh, when I was buying the clubs,

Kada sam kupovao palice,

somehow the young juggler was hiding from the others.

mladi žongler se nekako krio od ostalih.

Well I didn't think much of it at the time.

Nisam tada mnogo razmišljao o tome.

Anyway, here I was progressing with my new clubs.

Bilo kako bilo, napredovao sam sa svojim novim palicama.

But I could not understand.

Ali nisam mogao da razumem.

I was pretty fast, but I was not fluid at all.

Bio sam prilično brz, ali nisam bio nimalo fluidan.

The clubs were escaping me at each throw.

Palice su bežale od mene pri svakom bacanju.

And I was trying constantly to bring them back to me.

Konstantno sam se trudio da ih vratim sebi.

Until one day I practiced in front of Francis Brunn,

Sve do jednog dana, kada sam vežbao pred Fransisom Brunom,

the world's greatest juggler.

najboljim svetskim žonglerom.

And he was frowning.

On se namrštio.

And he finally asked, "Can I see those?"

I konačno je pitao: "Mogu li da ih vidim?"

So I proudly showed him my clubs.

Ponosno sam mu pokazao svoje palice.

He said, "Philippe, you have been had.

Rekao je: "Filipe, ti si prevaren.

These are rejects. They are completely out of alignment.

Ovo je škart. Potpuno su izvan poravnanja.

They are impossible to juggle."

Sa ovim je nemoguće žonglirati."

Tenacity is how I kept at it

Istrajnost je razlog što sam se zadržao na tome

against all odds.

uprkos lošim šansama.

So I went to the circus to see more magicians, more jugglers,

I tako sam otišao u cirkus da vidim više mađioničara, više žonglera,

and I saw -- oh no, no, no, I didn't see.

I video sam - oh ne, ne, ne, nisam video.

It was more interesting; I heard.

Bilo je zanimljivije; čuo sam.

I heard about those amazing men and women

Čuo sam o neverovatnim muškarcima i ženama

who walk on thin air --

koji hodaju po vazduhu -

the high-wire walkers.

hodači po žicama.

Now I have been playing with ropes and climbing all my childhood,

Igrao sam se užadima i penjao tokom celog detinjstva, to je to.

so that's it. I'm 16; I'm becoming a wire walker.

Imam 16 godina, postajem hodač po žici.

I found two trees --

Našao sam dva stabla -

but not any kind of trees,

ali ne bilo kakva stabla,

trees with character --

stabla sa karakterom -

and then a very long rope.

a zatim veoma dugo uže.

And I put the rope around and around

Razapinjao sam uže tamo - ovamo,

and around and around and around till I had no more rope.

tamo - ovamo, tamo - ovamo, dok nisam imao više užeta.

Now I have all of those ropes parallel like this.

Sada imam svu tu užad ovako paralelno.

I get a pair of pliers and some coat hangers,

Uzeo sam klešta i neke vešalice,

and I gather them together in some kind of ropey path.

i skupio sam užad u neku vrstu staze od užadi.

So I just created the widest tightrope in the world.

Tako da sam stvorio najšire uže na svetu.

What did I need? I needed the widest shoes in the world.

Šta mi je bilo potrebno? Najšire cipele na svetu.

So I found some enormous, ridiculous, giant ski boots

Pa sam pronašao ogromne, smešne, džinovske ski - čizme

and then wobbly, wobbly I get on the ropes.

i onda, klim - klim, stao sam na užad.

Well within a few days I'm able to do one crossing.

Za nekoliko dana bio sam u stanju da pređem užad.

So I cut one rope off.

Pa sam odsekao jedno uže.

And the next day one rope off.

I sledećeg dana još jedno.

And a few days later, I was practicing on a single tightrope.

Posle par dana, vežbao sam na jednom užetu.

Now you can imagine at that time

Već pogađate, u to vreme

I had to switch the ridiculous boots for some slippers.

morao sam zameniti smešne čizme nekim papučama.

So that is how -- in case there are people here in the audience who would like to try --

Tako se - u slučaju da ovde u publici ima ljudi koji bi hteli da pokušaju -

this is how not to learn wire walking.

tako se ne uči hodanje po žici.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Intuition is a tool essential in my life.

Intuicija je esencijalno oruđe u mom životu.

In the meantime, I am being thrown out of five different schools

U međuvremenu, izbačen sam iz pet različitih škola

because instead of listening to the teachers,

jer umesto da sam slušao profesore,

I am my own teacher, progressing in my new art

bio sam sam svoj učitelj, napredovao u svojoj novoj umetnosti

and becoming a street juggler.

i postajao ulični žongler.

On the high wire, within months,

Na visokoj žici, kroz nekoliko meseci,

I'm able to master all the tricks they do in the circus,

usavršio sam sve trikove koji se izvode u cirkusu,

except I am not satisfied.

samo što nisam bio zadovoljan.

I was starting to invent my own moves and bring them to perfection.

Počeo sam da izmišljam svoje poteze i da ih usavršavam.

But nobody wanted to hire me.

Ali niko nije hteo da me zaposli.

So I started putting a wire up in secret and performing without permission.

Pa sam počeo tajno da postavljam žicu i da nastupam bez dozvole.

Notre Dame,

Notr Dam,

the Sydney Harbor Bridge,

most u sidnejskoj luci,

the World Trade Center.

svetski trgovinski centar,

And I developed a certitude, a faith

I razvio sam sigurnost, veru,

that convinced me that I will get safely to the other side.

koja me ubeđuje da ću sigurno stići na drugu stranu.

If not, I will never do that first step.

Ako nije tako, nikad neću napraviti taj prvi korak.

Well nonetheless,

Pa ipak,

on the top of the World Trade Center

na vrhu svetskog trgovinskog centra

my first step was terrifying.

moj prvi korak je bio zastrašujući.

All of a sudden the density of the air is no longer the same.

Odjednom gustina vazduha više nije bila ista.

Manhattan no longer spreads its infinity.

Menhetn se više nije širio u svojoj beskonačnosti.

The murmur of the city dissolves into a squall

Žamor grada se rastvorio u udaru vetra

whose chilling power I no longer feel.

čiju rashladnu snagu više nisam mogao osetiti.

I lift the balancing pole. I approach the edge.

Podigao sam motku za balansiranje. Prišao sam ivici.

I step over the beam.

Zakoračio sam preko grede.

I put my left foot on the cable,

Stavio sam levo stopalo na žicu,

the weight of my body raised on my right leg

težina mog tela bila je na mojoj desnoj nozi

anchored to the flank of the building.

usidrena na boku zgrade.

Shall I ever so slightly shift my weight to the left?

Hoću li veoma glatko prebaciti težinu nalevo?

My right leg will be unburdened,

Moja desna noga će biti rasterećena,

my right foot will freely meet the wire.

desno stopalo će se slobodno susresti sa žicom.

On one side, a mass of a mountain, a life I know.

Na jednoj strani, masa planina, život koji poznajem.

On the other, the universe of the clouds,

Na drugoj, univerzum oblaka,

so full of unknown we think it's empty.

tako pun nepoznatog, da mislimo da je prazan.

At my feet, the path to the north tower -- 60 yards of wire rope.

Preda mnom, put do severnog tornja - 55 metara žičanog užeta.

It's a straight line, which sags,

To je prava linija, koja se uleže,

which sways, which vibrates,

koja se njiše, koja vibrira,

which rolls on itself,

koja se uvrće,

which is ice,

koja je led,

which is three tons tight, ready to explode,

koja je tri tone zategnuta, spremna da eksplodira,

ready to swallow me.

spremna da me proguta.

An inner howl assails me,

Unutrašnji krik me oštro kritikuje,

the wild longing to flee.

divlje želeći da pobegne.

But it is too late.

Ali prekasno je.

The wire is ready.

Žica je spremna.

Decisively my other foot sets itself onto the cable.

Odlučno, moje drugo stopalo staje na žicu.

Faith is what replaces doubt

Vera je ono što zamenjuje sumnju

in my dictionary.

u mom rečniku.

So after the walk

Nakon te šetnje

people ask me, "How can you top that?"

ljudi su me pitali: "Kako ćeš to nadmašiti?"

Well I didn't have that problem.

E, pa nisam imao takav problem.

I was not interested in collecting the gigantic,

Nisam bio zainteresovan za skupljanje gigantskog,

in breaking records.

za obaranje rekorda.

In fact, I put my World Trade Center crossing

Zapravo, postavljam svoj prelazak Svetskog trgovinskog centra

at the same artistic level as some of my smaller walks --

na isti umetnički nivo sa nekim od mojih manjih prelazaka -

or some completely different type of performance.

ili nekim potpuno različitim vrstama izvedbi.

Let's see, such as my street juggling, for example.

Da vidimo, na primer, kao moje ulično žongliranje.

So each time

Svaki put

I draw my circle of chalk on the pavement

kada nacrtam svoj krug kredom na trotoaru

and enter as the improvising comic silent character

i uđem u ovu improvizovanu, komičnu, tihu ulogu

I created 45 years ago,

koju sam stvorio pre 45 godina,

I am as happy as when I am in the clouds.

srećan sam kao i kada sam među oblacima.

But this here,

Ali ovo ovde,

this is not the street.

ovo nije ulica.

So I cannot street juggle here, you understand.

Pa razumete, ne mogu ovde da žongliram na ulici.

So you don't want me to street juggle here, right?

Pa ne želite da ovde žongliram na ulici, zar ne?

You know that, right?

Znate to, zar ne?

You don't want me to juggle, right?

Ne želite da žongliram, zar ne?

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

(Music)

(Muzika)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

Thank you. Thank you.

Hvala. Hvala.

Each time I street juggle

Svaki put kad žongliram

I use improvisation.

koristim improvizaciju.

Now improvisation is empowering

Improvizacija daje moć

because it welcomes the unknown.

jer dočekuje nepoznato.

And since what's impossible is always unknown,

A pošto je ono što je nemoguće uvek i nepoznato,

it allows me to believe I can cheat the impossible.

dozvoljava mi da verujem da mogu prevariti nemoguće.

Now I have done the impossible not once,

Učinio sam nemoguće ne jednom,

but many times.

već mnogo puta.

So what should I share? Oh, I know. Israel.

Pa šta još da podelim? Ah, znam. Izrael.

Some years ago I was invited to open the Israel Festival

Pre nekoliko godina pozvan sam da otvorim Festival Izraela

by a high-wire walk.

hodom po visokoj žici.

And I chose to put my wire

Izabrao sam da postavim svoju žicu

between the Arab quarters and the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem

između arapskih četvrti i jevrejskih četvrti u Jerusalimu

over the Ben Hinnom Valley.

preko doline Ben Hinom.

And I thought it would be incredible

Mislio sam da će biti neverovatno

if in the middle of the wire

ako bih na sredini žice

I stopped and, like a magician,

zastao i, poput mađioničara,

I produce a dove and send her in the sky

stvorio golubicu i poslao je prema nebu

as a living symbol of peace.

kao živi simbol mira.

Well now I must say,

Sada moram reći,

it was a little bit hard to find a dove in Israel, but I got one.

bilo je pomalo teško pronaći golubicu u Izraelu, ali našao sam je.

And in my hotel room,

U mojoj hotelskoj sobi,

each time I practiced making it appear and throwing her in the air,

svaki put kad sam vežbao njeno pojavljivanje i bacanje u vazduh

she would graze the wall and end up on the bed.

ona bi okrznula zid i pala na krevet.

So I said, now it's okay. The room is too small.

Rekoh, u redu. Soba je premala.

I mean, a bird needs space to fly.

Mislim, ptici je potreban prostor za let.

It will go perfectly on the day of the walk.

Biće savršeno na dan hodanja.

Now comes the day of the walk.

Došao je taj dan.

Eighty thousand people spread over the entire valley.

Osamdeset hiljada ljudi se raširilo po celoj dolini.

The mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, comes to wish me the best.

Gradonačelnik Jerusalima, Tedi Kolek, dolazi da mi poželi sreću.

But he seemed nervous.

Ali izgledao je nervozno.

There was tension in my wire,

Postojala je tenzija u mojoj žici,

but I also could feel tension on the ground.

ali sam takođe mogao osetiti tenziju na tlu.

Because all those people

Jer sve te ljude

were made up of people who, for the most part,

čine ljudi koji uglavnom

considered each other enemies.

smatraju jedni druge neprijateljima.

So I start the walk. Everything is fine.

I tako sam počeo šetnju. Sve je u redu.

I stop in the middle.

Stao sam na sredini.

I make the dove appear.

Učinio sam da se golubica pojavi.

People applaud in delight.

Ljudi su aplaudirali oduševljeno.

And then in the most magnificent gesture,

I tada sam uz veličanstveni gest

I send the bird of peace into the azure.

poslao pticu mira u nebesko plavetnilo.

But the bird, instead of flying away,

Ali ptica, umesto da odleti,

goes flop, flop, flop and lands on my head.

ide flop, flop, flop, i sleti na moju glavu.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And people scream.

A ljudi vrište.

So I grab the dove,

Pa sam zgrabio golubicu,

and for the second time I send her in the air.

i po drugi put je poslao u vazduh.

But the dove, who obviously didn't go to flying school,

Ali golubica, koja očigledno nije išla na časove letenja,

goes flop, flop, flop and ends up at the end of my balancing pole.

ide flop, flop, flop i završi na kraju moje motke za balansiranje.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

You laugh, you laugh. But hey.

Smejete se, smejete se. Ali hej.

I sit down immediately. It's a reflex of wire walkers.

Odmah sam seo. To je refleks hodača po žici.

Now in the meantime, the audience, they go crazy.

U međuvremenu, publika je poludela.

They must think this guy with this dove,

Mora da su mislili, ovaj tip sa svojom golubicom,

he must have spent years working with him.

mora da je proveo godine vežbajući s njom.

What a genius, what a professional.

Kakav genije, kakav profesionalac.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So I take a bow. I salute with my hand.

Pa sam se poklonio. Pozdravio sam rukom.

And at the end I bang my hand against the pole

I na kraju sam udario šakom o motku

to dislodge the bird.

da oteram pticu.

Now the dove, who, now you know, obviously cannot fly,

A golubica, koja, sada znate, očigledno ne zna da leti,

does for the third time a little flop, flop, flop

po treći put napravi flop, flop, flop,

and ends up on the wire behind me.

i završi na žici iza mene.

And the entire valley goes crazy.

I cela dolina je poludela.

Now but hold on, I'm not finished.

Ali sačekajte, nisam još završio.

So now I'm like 50 yards from my arrival

Sad sam otprilike 45 metara do kraja

and I'm exhausted, so my steps are slow.

i iscrpljen sam, pa su mi koraci spori.

And something happened.

I nešto se desilo.

Somebody somewhere, a group of people,

Neko je negde, grupa ljudi,

starts clapping in rhythm with my steps.

počela da aplaudira u ritmu mojih koraka.

And within seconds the entire valley

I kroz nekoliko sekundi cela dolina

is applauding in unison with each of my steps.

aplaudira jednoglasno sa svakim mojim korakom.

But not an applause of delight like before,

Ali ne aplauz oduševljenja kao pre,

an applause encouragement.

nego aplauz ohrabrenja.

For a moment, the entire crowd had forgotten their differences.

Za trenutak, cela gomila je zaboravila na svoje razlike.

They had become one, pushing me to triumph.

Postali su jedno, gurajući me prema trijumfu.

I want you just for a second

Želim da vi, samo na sekund

to experience this amazing human symphony.

iskusite ovu zapanjujuću ljudsku simfoniju.

So let's say I am here and the chair is my arrival.

Recimo da sam ovde, a stolica je mesto dolaska.

So I walk, you clap, everybody in unison.

Ja hodam, vi tapšete, svi jednoglasno.

(Clapping)

(Tapšanje)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

So after the walk, Teddy and I become friends.

Posle tog hodanja, Tedi i ja smo postali prijatelji.

And he tells me, he has on his desk a picture of me

I on mi kaže, ima na stolu sliku mene

in the middle of the wire with a dove on my head.

na sredini žice, sa golubicom na glavi.

He didn't know the true story.

On nije znao pravu priču.

And whenever he's daunted by an impossible situation

I kad god je obeshrabren nemogućom situacijom,

to solve in this hard-to-manage city,

u vođenju svog grada, kojim je teško upravljati,

instead of giving up, he looks at the picture and he says,

umesto da odustane, on pogleda sliku i kaže:

"If Philippe can do that, I can do this,"

"Ako Filip može da uradi to, mogu i ja ovo",

and he goes back to work.

i vrati se na posao.

Inspiration.

Inspiracija.

By inspiring ourselves

Inspirišući sebe

we inspire others.

inspirišemo druge.

I will never forget this music,

Nikada neću zaboraviti ovu muziku,

and I hope now neither will you.

a nadam se ni vi.

Please take this music with you home,

Molim vas ponesite ovu muziku kući,

and start gluing feathers to your arms

i počnite lepiti perje na svoje ruke

and take off and fly,

i poletite i letite,

and look at the world from a different perspective.

i gledajte svet iz drugačije perspektive.

And when you see mountains,

I kada vidite planine,

remember mountains can be moved.

upamtite, planine je moguće pomeriti.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

Thank you. Thank you.

Hvala. Hvala.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)