Friday, August 8, 2008
Movie review: Man on Wire
Man on Wire
August 7, 1974. A young French man named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire suspended between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. He danced on this wire for an hour with no safety net before he was arrested for what has become to be known as the "artistic crime of the century."
Source: Cinema Source
Documentaries are a fascinating type of filmmaking because real life’s twists and turns offer up more creative opportunities to the filmmakers than anything a screenwriter could ever dream of. There’s also the idea that “documentary” can mean almost anything; it doesn’t have to stick strictly to the mold of interviews and stock footage.
Never is this more evident than in Man on Wire, a film documenting the months and years leading up to Phillippe Petit’s daring tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. Director James Marsh goes the unusual, though not unprecedented, route of blending interviews with Petit and other participants with reenactments of the actual adventure using actors (not an easy feat since, of course, the towers don’t exist anymore). The reenactments are jarring at first, but because they’re backed by Petit’s constantly entertaining retelling of events, they become second nature by the end of the film.
This is really the only way to see Sydney.
Marsh also uses pictures and footage that were apparently shot by Petit and his friends as he trained for the feat and performed other tightrope walks at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. These are illuminating not just for the unique perspectives on Petit’s stunning exploits, but for the foresight the group had in recording them. However, Marsh goes back and forth between interviews, reenactments, and the group’s footage (not to mention news pictures and footage) so often that it’s often hard to distinguish what is actual footage and what has been recreated.
Marsh also never does an effective job demonstrating the time and effort it took to accomplish all of Petit’s deeds. Press notes for the film indicate that it took eight months of planning for the group to set the wirewalking up, but editing of the film seems to place Petit in the U.S. much earlier. The film also could’ve used some explanation as to exactly how Petit could afford the multiple trans-Atlantic trips he made, as he’s almost made out to be effortlessly rich – a street performer with a limitless bank account.
Gulp -- don't look down.
But the sheer ability of Petit and his cohorts to amuse and enthrall with their stories and the way Marsh stages the events as a heist of the grandest order (which, in effect, it was) makes for continuously interesting film. Just as fascinating are the reactions of those who witnessed Petit’s feats: Policemen, who probably should’ve been angry at him for causing such a ruckus, instead express amazement at his daring; Friends break down in tears 30+ years after the fact at just the thought of what he did and their role in it.
Despite being almost the second and third main characters in the film, the sight of the Twin Towers serves more to amaze than to upset in this post-9/11 world we live in. This is especially true when we are shown pictures from the very top, a place few people ever ventured. One shot is particularly awe-inspiring – Petit laid down on the wire at the midpoint between the towers and took a picture looking straight down. Those afraid of heights may find themselves feeling woozy at various points because of the fantastic pictures.
Man on Wire, though, is not a celebration of the towers, but of what they represented for Phillippe Petit – a chance to share his joy of living with the world by performing almost the most death-defying feat one could imagine. Petit elicits laughs by constantly referring to the buildings as his towers, but in doing something so unimaginable, it’s not hard to believe that they did belong to him.
