Man on Wire
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Movie Reviews of Man on Wire
Movie Review: Involving, bracing documentaries don't always have to be about negative topics
Summary: 5 Stars
Immensely entertaining documentary about Philippe Petit, a kind of "performance terrorist", who instead of plotting to destroy the world's most famous buildings and monuments, performs on them via his high wire act. "Man on Wire" recounts his most famous stunt: sneaking into the newly-built World Trade Center in 1974, stringing a wire between the two towers, and performing an elegant high-wire act for almost an hour before being hauled off by police. His eventual punishment? He had to perform his juggling and high wire act for New York's children in free performances in Central Park. So even the authorities weren't too peeved with Mr. Petit for his memorable crime.
Cleverly filmed in the style of a heist movie, "Man on Wire" moves along at a nice clip, featuring a variety of interviews with Mr. Petit and his compatriots intercut with tense re-enactments of the infiltration of the World Trade Center on that memorable day in 1974. What's also graceul about the film is that it never mentions the horrible events of September 11, 2001, but by including material about the construction of the towers and what they symbolized at the time, the film also subtly functions as a memorial to their passing.
Extra features include a 20-minute featurette about a similar stunt Mr. Petit successfully pulled off in Australia about a year before the World Trade Center event; a 12-minute interview with Mr. Petit that seems to have been conducted after the film wrapped (as he discusses at length his impressions of the movie); and- most impressively- a nine-minute animated film that recounts Mr. Petit's World Trade Center adventure in a wonderful storybook-style aimed at children. This short cartoon is very well done.
Absolutely recommended for documentary fans, "Man on Wire" will also be immensely entertaining for those who only occasionally delve into the non-fiction filmmaking genre. One can easily see why it won the Academy Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary Film on February 22, 2009.
Movie Review: Miracles do happen
Summary: 5 Stars
A delightful, quixotic documentary about a dreamer who wanted to walk on a tightrope between the World Trade Towers and had enough skill to actually bring off the unlikely feat.
Along with his tightrope talent Philippe Petit had resourcefulness and considerable engineering ability. He smuggled more than a ton of equipment into the Towers under the noses of the guards, and rigged the wire by sending an arrow from one tower to the other and embroidering the wire from the fishline. His plan for the guywires was complex, and had to be, given the possibilities of wind and other problems at the top of the buildings.
During the planning stages the filmmakers use the lovers' theme from Michael Nyman's music for "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover". When Philippe is actually on the wire between the towers, they switch to Satie's "Gymnopédie". Then, as the camera pans from Philippe to the New York cops, the hectic march from "The Cook The Thief" takes over.
The sense of exultation and awe is contagious as Philippe's girlfriend tells the passersby that there is a man on a tightrope between the towers. Philippe's friends can't talk about the miraculous ascension without weeping. There is, indeed, something magical about the enormity of his dream and his accomplishment. I had a lump in my throat at the critical moment.
Predictably, the authorities and the media asked him "Why?" He found the question incomprehensible and irrelevant. A commitment like his doesn't have or need a "Why."
The entire project, from dream to planning to execution to arrest, could be regarded as a work of modern art, performance art, carried out with technological means but -- most of all -- a romantic end.
A great movie for dreamers and those who respect dreamers. Even one of the cops says, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Movie Review: Beneath the Thrill, a Lot of Sadness
Summary: 5 Stars
I was lured into seeing this film by my teenage son, who is a circus acrobat by genetic conviction as surely as Philippe Petit was a high-wire walker and as I am a musician. I would never have entered the theater if I'd known what I'd be seeing. I have a pathologically empathetic response to films. When I was a little kid, I used to shout out warnings to Tweetie Bird when the cat got near. During fight scenes, my whole body twitches and my wife gets nervous for the safety of the unsuspecting head in front of me. I'm a climber in real life. I've been to the summit of Annapurna. But my blood pressure rises and I tremble with acrophobia at Hollywood simulations of climbing. This film Man on Wire took two years off my life, I'm sure. It's that intense, with its coy intersplicing of still photos and super-eight footage of Petit in mid-air and lovely slow talking-head interviews of Petit and his accomplices, years later, clearly establishing that they all survived to tell the tale.
Those interviews of middle-aged daredevils, reminiscing about their greatest caper, were as intense for me as the dodgy accomplishment of the adventure. It was literally the end of a love affair with life for all of them, something "too hot not to cool down," an overture too overwhelming to be followed by a mere opera. When Petit's boyhood friend broke down in tears at the waning of their friendship, when Petit's wife-the-love-of-his-life felt the reality that his life no longer needed hers, the whole social cost of Petit's obsession moved me also almost to tears. Hey, I might have cried if my heart had slowed down to twice normal. I felt an urge to grab my son and hug or shake him, saying "don't let your art be more to you than your life."
There's more to this film than a mere victimless heist thriller.
Movie Review: Beautiful documentary of a charming eccentric frenchman and his walk across the skies
Summary: 5 Stars
It was during the summer of 2000, roughly a year before 9/11 that i was a tourist at the world trade centre and went to the top and could see the sheer magnificence of man's creativity and sense of urban architecture at its finest moment. I also suffer from a mild fear of heights, so when we went on the top, i was almost gripping the railing (even though its on a separate protective structure) for dear life, but after awhile once my senses adjusted to the height. I was blown apart by the view and the whole largesse of the situation. but i digress..
It is without a doubt an act of sheer lunacy that a person would actually have the gall to tightrope walk across the towers, from my memory of my tour up there, the very notion is mind boggling to say the least.
The documentary itself is a carefully and efficiently prepared sequence of re-enactments and collages of photos with certain video footage pertaining to network and news archives of those covering the story at that time. I have to admit, watching the documentary alone, i started feeling a bit dizzy :)
Its an amazing documentary that details how Phillipe meticulously planned the whole operation and his thoughts on the same on why it had to be done. He comes across as a person with such a passion and desire for life, love and happiness that its an inspiration just to see this documentary and how his totally insane act will change you and encourage you to go and truly live life.
Thank you Monsieur Petit, it was a great show, which would have been something else to actually see live.
10 Star rating, a keeper in my collection.
Movie Review: Extradinory, Beautiful, Thrilling, and Moving
Summary: 5 Stars
The title I gave my review of "Man on Wire" is a small capsule of the critical raves that have been heaped upon this documentary. I just finished watching this documentary today, and I have to agree with the other critics who have raved about this movie. The movie documents Philippe Petit's six year struggle to achieve an illegal artistic act-walking on a tightrope between the two Twin Towers of New York city. Petit has a history of defying the law to perform his art, from walking above the towers of Notre Dame in his hometown of Paris to the bridge crossing of Sydney Harbour in Australia. How he achieves it, up until he is finally in the air a quarter of a mile up on a tightrope between the Towers, is thrilling. There is never any motivation other than thrill seeking behavior given for Petit's decision to walk between the towers. Petit and all of his "partners in crime" for this hedonistic, illegal artistic act are all interviewed and give their insights into what they did and what it meant. This movie, despite the fact there is no film footage of Petit on the towers, will keep you riveted to your seat.
The special features are good as well. The footage of Philippe Petit's Sydney Harbor crossing (in Australia)is well done. I enjoyed the animated scholastic film of "The Man who walked between the Towers," based on an award winning childrens book about Petit's walk across the Towers. Mr. Petit's interview is also fascinating in providing insights into his behavior, and why he feels the need to perform outside of a circus on a highwire.
An exhillerating ride of a film, and worth it!