Man on Wire [DVD] [2008]

Release Date: December 26th, 2008
Distributor: Icon Home Entertainment
Actors: Ardis Campbell, David Demato, David Frank, Aaron Haskell, Paul McGill
Director: James Marsh
Certificate: Suitable for 12 years and over

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About Man on Wire

Man On Wire is a documentary film directed by James Marsh that is about the true story of a 1974 stunt performed by a a French wire walker, juggler, and street performer named Philippe Petit. The stunt he performed, with the help of some other accomplices, was illegally walking on a wire 1350 feet up in the air that was attached between the two towers of the World Trade Center without the use of any safety equipment. The movie is based on the book, To Reach the Clouds, which was also written by Petit.

Obviously since the film is a documentary, all the "actors" star as themselves. The film centers around Phillippe Petit and his incredible stunt, along with others such as Jean-François Heckel, Jean-Louis Blondeau, Annie Allix, and David Forman. It won an Oscar, was nominated seven times, and won 27 awards and other various wins, including the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, the Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary and the World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and the Independent Spirit Award.

Though this film is only an hour-and-a-half long, I personally thought that it was quite interesting and even fascinating to watch. Petit reminded me of one of those crazy but artsy genius types, though I suppose that is the sort of trait one would have to possess in order to make the decision to walk over 1000 feet above ground on a mere wire between the Twin Towers. He also discusses all the moments that led up to him performing the stunt in an almost overly-enthusiastic way, so it was interesting watching and listening to him and at the same wondering how anyone could be bold (and out of your mind, as I personally think of it) enough to perform this death-defying stunt. Some even considered it "the artistic crime of the century" because it was illegal, exciting, and extremely risky.

The real-life footage of the event and the actual interviews with Petit and the others who were involved make this film much more interesting and in effect, gives it a greater sense of realism and credibility, as the actual footage does not contain any fake scenes or computer-generated effects and images. However, it not only covers the stunt itself, but also all the work and effort that had to be done beforehand in order to perform it, some other stunts Petit took part in, and the significant changes this particular event brought into Petit's and the others' lives.

If you enjoy a film with real-life, heart stopping action and one that has an amazing but true story behind it, I would definitely recommend that you see Man on Wire.

Synopsis/Review

From Amazon

Native New Yorkers know to expect the unexpected, but who among them could've predicted that a man would stroll between the towers of the World Trade Center? French high-wire walker Philippe Petit did just that on August 7th, 1974. Petit’s success may come as a foregone conclusion, but British filmmaker James Marsh’s pulse-pounding documentary still plays more like a thriller than a non-fiction entry--in fact, it puts most thrillers to shame. Marsh (Wisconsin Death Trip, The King) starts by looking at Petit's previous stunts. First, he took on Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral, then Sydney's Harbour Bridge before honing in on the not-yet-completed WTC. The planning took years, and the prescient Petit filmed his meetings with accomplices in France and America. Marsh smoothly integrates this material with stylized re-enactments and new interviews in which participants emerge from the shadows as if to reveal deep, dark secrets which, in a way, they do, since Petit's plan was illegal, "but not wicked or mean." The director documents every step they took to circumvent security, protocol, and physics as if re-creating a classic Jules Dassin or Jean-Pierre Melville caper. Though still photographs capture the feat rather than video, the resulting images will surely blow as many minds now as they did in the 1970s when splashed all over the media. Not only did Petit walk, he danced and even lay down on the cable strung between the skyscrapers. Based on his 2002 memoir, Man on Wire defines the adjective "awe-inspiring." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

From Play.com

A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring but illegal high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974 what some consider "the artistic crime of the century."