Le Parkour

Le Parkour is a physical discipline of French origins that had been founded by David Belle. This discipline basically focuses on the elegance of the human body, in other words, it seemingly hones the mind into controlling the body to be able to do seemingly impossible acrobatic acts such as jumping over obstacles and leaping down from a 1 storey building, etc. This feature has been frequently used throughout actions films for entertainment purposes and also to stimulate consumption in our industrial capitalist society. I think one good example of a good Le Parkour applicant may be Jackie Chan, who always insists on doing various incredible stunts on his own without using special effects.

This quote as spoken by experienced traceur Jerome Ben Aoues who explains in the documentary Jump London basically summarises the essence of Le Parkour:

The most important element is the harmony between you and the obstacle; the movement has to be elegant... If you manage to pass over the fence elegantly—that's beautiful, rather than saying ‘I jumped the lot.' What's the point in that?


Some examples of Le Parkour clips are as below:

Le Parkour in Singapore:



Banlieue 13 French Action film in 2004 Featuring David Belle