Man On Wire
At the very beginning of the 1970's, Phillippe Petit was a young man in France who was obsessed with wire walking. Starting as a young boy in his back yard, he had worked his way up to stringing wires from one side to the other of high bridges and walking across (inevitably to be arrested when he came down). He was looking for the ultimate challenge. And then he heard about the new buildings that were going to open soon in New York City... the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
"Man On Wire" just might be the film you're looking for if you really want to see a movie that isn't like anything else currently out there (and if it IS just like other films playing near you, I'd be interested in knowing where that is, because you clearly have a wider variety of films in your area than we do in Minneapolis!). A documentary about one of the most amazing stunts of the later 20th century, it provides a fascinating look into the mind (and deeds) of a man who some would call crazy, and others would admire for following his dream wherever it took him. The movie admirably takes no position on this... it lets Petit and his cohorts, in recently filmed interviews, tell their own story and lets the viewer make up their mind about them. If they're anything like me (now, that's a terrifying thought!), they'll probably feel a little of both at various points in the film.
The "mission" carried out by Petit and company seems astonishing even BEFORE you've actually seen the movie, and even more amazing afterward. The crew had to get past some extremely intense security, establish a post on the top floor of one of the towers and stay there overnight while avoiding the security guards roaming the building, somehow manage to string the wire from one tower to the other (I wouldn't dream of spoiling your surprise at how they manage this), and then of course Petit had to perform the actual feat itself... about 45 minutes and several complete crossings from one side to the other of the tallest buildings in the world. It's almost as absorbing to see how Petit managed to convince so many other people, including a couple who actually worked in the towers, to facilitate his plan as it is to watch him carry it out.
As stated earlier, Petit and crew accomplished this feat back in 1974... two days before Richard Nixon's resignation (a clip of which is glimpsed on a TV)... and the interviews with them are contemporary (accompanied by vintage film footage of the planning and the actual wire walking itself), but at no point are there any comments made about 9/11. This was a slight disappointment for me, because if anyone would have had a truly unique perspective on what happened and what people felt when the twin towers came down, it would be the man who walked between them. But the movie remains resolutely focused on what happened back then. Considering how genuinely astonishing those events back then WERE, though, that's a small complaint. Being the next closest thing possible to actually being right there next to Petit as he performs possibly the most dangerous stunt ever attempted, thousands of feet above the ground without a net (and no fake movie CGI effects here, folks), knowing what could happen if there were even the slightest slip... let's just say that you'll be on the edge of your seat to a degree that puts most of even the most intense action movies to shame. Even if you're not normally a devotee of documentaries, you might still want to give "Man On Wire" a try. It will definitely take you somewhere you've never been before, and isn't that what we really want from the movies?
"Man On Wire" just might be the film you're looking for if you really want to see a movie that isn't like anything else currently out there (and if it IS just like other films playing near you, I'd be interested in knowing where that is, because you clearly have a wider variety of films in your area than we do in Minneapolis!). A documentary about one of the most amazing stunts of the later 20th century, it provides a fascinating look into the mind (and deeds) of a man who some would call crazy, and others would admire for following his dream wherever it took him. The movie admirably takes no position on this... it lets Petit and his cohorts, in recently filmed interviews, tell their own story and lets the viewer make up their mind about them. If they're anything like me (now, that's a terrifying thought!), they'll probably feel a little of both at various points in the film.
The "mission" carried out by Petit and company seems astonishing even BEFORE you've actually seen the movie, and even more amazing afterward. The crew had to get past some extremely intense security, establish a post on the top floor of one of the towers and stay there overnight while avoiding the security guards roaming the building, somehow manage to string the wire from one tower to the other (I wouldn't dream of spoiling your surprise at how they manage this), and then of course Petit had to perform the actual feat itself... about 45 minutes and several complete crossings from one side to the other of the tallest buildings in the world. It's almost as absorbing to see how Petit managed to convince so many other people, including a couple who actually worked in the towers, to facilitate his plan as it is to watch him carry it out.
As stated earlier, Petit and crew accomplished this feat back in 1974... two days before Richard Nixon's resignation (a clip of which is glimpsed on a TV)... and the interviews with them are contemporary (accompanied by vintage film footage of the planning and the actual wire walking itself), but at no point are there any comments made about 9/11. This was a slight disappointment for me, because if anyone would have had a truly unique perspective on what happened and what people felt when the twin towers came down, it would be the man who walked between them. But the movie remains resolutely focused on what happened back then. Considering how genuinely astonishing those events back then WERE, though, that's a small complaint. Being the next closest thing possible to actually being right there next to Petit as he performs possibly the most dangerous stunt ever attempted, thousands of feet above the ground without a net (and no fake movie CGI effects here, folks), knowing what could happen if there were even the slightest slip... let's just say that you'll be on the edge of your seat to a degree that puts most of even the most intense action movies to shame. Even if you're not normally a devotee of documentaries, you might still want to give "Man On Wire" a try. It will definitely take you somewhere you've never been before, and isn't that what we really want from the movies?
posted by Joe Bunce at
8:18 AM
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