MAN ON WIRE [2008] review
January 8, 2009 · Print This Article
Philippe Petit had a rare and magnificent and ambitious dream, to walk on a wire between the World Trade Center towers in New York City. MAN ON WIRE is a documentary told in Philippe’s own words about how the magnitude of the logistics to make this happen matched the magnitude of the dream itself.
The imagery in this documentary is absolutely stunning and will make your jaw drop. It is as otherworldly as either fiction or nonfiction can get. Watching this documentary will instantly expand one’s own ability to dream and realize what is possible in this increasingly controlled and safety-obsessed society we live in.
Philippe, naturally, has a very infectious personality. I could not imagine a person capable of walking between the towers to be anything but. He is totally self taught in all his skills of acrobatics. People are drawn to him. As his girlfriend says, it was expected that you were to share in Philippe’s destiny of wirewalking. He never asked about yours. I can understand what she means perfectly.
Philippe only has two other major wirewalkings under his belt before he attempts the World Trade Center wirewalk, and the setup to this final wirewalk does take a little bit longer than it needed to. Nevertheless, Philippe is magnetic in the archival footage and the present talking head footage.
And then once he finally takes to the wire between the two towers, I think I gasped myself. I have spent time in very high places and walked dangerously across cliffsides and even lept over wide chasms. Philippe talks about taking that first step onto the wire, and I could imagine exactly that feeling. Life and death in one step, if only one is bold enough to take it. Philippe never hesitates.
This is a truly inspiring documentary that will help remove any illness that may currently befall you.
[...] 10 — MAN ON WIRE [...]