SANS SPANDEX
When I was a kid I wanted to be a super-hero.. a crime fighter! I'd read DAREDEVIL and BATMAN and dreamed that one day... one night, I'd prowl the rooftops of Manila and swing from building to... wait a minute! I realized, there were not much buildings to swing from and if I patrolled the rooftops I'd be mistaken for a member of the Akyat-Bahay Gang. Of course, there was also the problem of my weight and since I loved eating, I never really got into shape to be a superhero.
Such things did not stop David Belle from developing the art of Le Parkour and run the rooftops of Paris. It is a relatively new urban sport in France, which means "obstacle-coursing".
Described by adepts as an art-form or even a philosophy, Le Parkour consists of finding new and often dangerous ways through the city landscape - scaling walls, roof-running and leaping from building to building. "Le Parkour - or the Art of Movement - is a way of using the obstacles found in one's path to perform jumps and acrobatics.
It has become so popular that Le Parkour was featured in a BBC TV commercial starring Belle himself.
The TVC is entitled RUSH HOUR and features a man (Belle) leaving work through his office window and crossing the gridlocked city via the rooftops in order to get home in time to watch his favourite programme on BBC ONE. No special effects were used in the TVC. All the action was filmed for real, including a breathtaking 23 feet building-to-building leap, 200 feet above the street.
I first saw the BBC "RUSH HOUR" commercial in the office and all the guys commented that Belle moved like Spider-Man or Daredevil. Which made me think, the DAREDEVIL movie might have been more exciting if Ben Affleck roamed the city like a Traceur (one who practices La Parkour). Or it might have been better if the producers just got David Belle to replace Affleck.
What got me researching about La Parkour is the comic book GLOBAL FREQUENCY. The issue that comes out this month is about a Traceur who has 20 minutes to find and stop a bomb from exploding in the middle of London-- saving the world without a costume.
There's also a series of NIKE PRESTO commercials that show some Traceurs leaping around the city.
Luc Besson even made a movie called YAMAKASI, which was about a group of friends who practiced Le Parkour.
I wonder if this sport will pick up here. The question is, where do you do it? Manila? Malate area? Maybe in some parts of Makati?
It would be fun to try it out.
And maybe I can even wear my costume.
he he he