Man on Wire

I watched an excellent documentary last night. Man on Wire tells the story of a French street performer, Phillipe Petit, who, in 1974, illegally strung a cable between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York and walked across it. The film is about the planning and lead up to the walk, the various people involved, and the execution itself.

Very interestingly, most of the footage was filmed in the year prior to the walk (it wasn't made clear in the documentary who actually filmed those parts) and the rest of it is interviews with Petit and his friends who assisted him, and some who betrayed him, with a little reenactment.

I really enjoyed the film, however it definitely left me wanting to know more. It's presented as a heist film, and ends with the walk, but I found myself wanting to know what happened to Petit and the others involved afterwards. It's no secret that Petit didn't fall to his death in the crossing, seeing as he is featured in the interviews right from the beginning of the documentary, and he's a fantastic storyteller - very animated. However, he does come across as somewhat blind with passion - he says at the beginning that he was in a dentist's office in 1968 when he saw a magazine article about the construction of the World Trade Center, and decided then and there that he would one day walk a hire wire between the towers. It seems as though his judgement may have been somewhat clouded by his vision.

There were definitely some emotional scenes in the film, which I wasn't expecting, and a strong focus on the relationships between Petit and the friends who assisted him. One thing I found particularly interesting is that there is no mention of 9/11. Although many online discussions seem to wonder why this is, I think it's entirely appropriate - one has nothing to do with the other - this incredible (albeit crazy) feat needs to be seen in it's own light. I'd also to know why the film was only made last year, almost 25 years after the event.

This film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which means all 141 reviews of it are positive, which is pretty incredible, and it won an Academy Award last year. I would definitely recommend seeing it - it's certainly thought provoking and something to be discussed afterwards.

If you've seen it, let me know what you thought.

Picture source: Alan Welner (www.msnbc.msn.com)