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• A Nutshell Review: Man on Wire posted on 14 Aug 2009

  James Marsh directed Man on Wire to critical acclaim, and snagged amongst other recognition, the best documentary feature in this year's Academy Awards. Containing the usual talking heads styled interviews with everyone involved one way or another in high-wire walker Philippe Petit's 1974 stunt at New York's World Trade Centers' Twin Towers, this film is extremely engaging as you the audience get to participate in what is sadly a stunt that can no longer be replicated.I guess it's already mentioned in countless of reviews that this film played out like a heist movie, where the perpetrators run through elaborate planning, trials and research in order to get their logistics all set up right. And true to a stunt of any nature, meticulous and painful planning is a necessary ingredient to ensure that the objectives get pulled off successfully with minimum fuss or injury. Surveillance is always key, and the copious amount of intelligence gathering performed by Petit and his team, is nothing short of commendable, if I may say so, involving everything from on-site surveying of activity and key locations, and helicopter rides.But you can't help but to feel a sense of how lax security got compromised at the time, where the group can get by with fake IDs for starters, and the rest just exhibiting some confidence in order to bypass gatekeepers. Then there's always the insider to provide support, as well as an enormous stroke of luck to make everything a lot more easier, such as having the use of the freight lift to lug their heavy equipment.While the film chronicles Petit's efforts in achieving his impossible dream, from the more humble beginnings such as initial practice in a backyard, and scaling other projects such as the Notre Dame and Sydney Harbour Bridge, what was niggling at the back of my mind were the Twin Towers themselves. There were enough images and clips shown of how the Towers got built, the sheer magnificence of it all, witnessing the erection from ground all the way up. There's this sense of pity and regrettable loss that they no longer dot the skyline of NYC, and not having personally been there before, I can only imagine how iconic those towers once stood.Man on Wire does get a little dry sometimes since there's only one mission objective and with its participants very focused on getting the job done, and it's a shame that there's no video clip of Petit performing those multiple walks across both directions in a 45 minute period - yes, it's not just 1 walk! - compared to something similar if done today, with the proliferation of video cameras, we'll probably have multiple angles of the same thing!

• Great Documentary posted on 08 Aug 2009

  Man on Wire (2008) **** (out of 4) On August 7, 1974 Frenchman Philippe Petit crossed the north and south towers of the World Trade Center eight times. This fascinating documentary plays out like a thriller and a heist movie because Philippe and his gang had to pretty much break into both towers, sneak to the top, avoid security and then set the wire across both towers in order for Philippe to walk. This documentary works on two levels with one being given insight into a genius or at least a man without any fear in him. The second level this works on is a nice tribute to the towers, which are of course no longer with us. Early in the film we see some striking footage, which looks a lot like the clean up after the 9/11 attacks but it turns out to be the early stages of the towers going up. Throughout the film there are plenty of images from the towers, which are certainly great to see considering most of the views we get today. The rest of the documentary is certainly spellbounding as we go along with this man who is trying to fulfill a dream of walking between the two towers. I'm not too fond of heights even though at one point in my life I jumped off a cliff 96-feet in the air into a lake but while watching this movie I couldn't even imagine what must have been going on in Philippe's mind. We here from the man himself throughout the documentary so we know he makes it across without falling to his death but this doesn't take away from the suspense, which there is plenty of. Hearing how two teams had to break into both towers and sneak their way to the top is full of wonderful stories that certainly build up tension as there were plenty of times where they were almost busted. The way everything had to be rehearsed and then executed really makes this film seem like heist movie where we're involved with a group of criminals trying to do their job. The biggest difference, as pointed out by those who took part in this, is that they were doing a crime yet hurting no one.

• An Excellent Documentary... posted on 08 Aug 2009

  This is a really great documentary. It's a "Tour de Force of Will". The energy that Petit shows even in his old age is inspiring. I was hungry for more information and sad when it finished. I would have loved to know a little more about all of the principal players and what they are up to now.It is really quite something to imagine a time when this kind of feat was even possible. Obviously, times have changed a lot since the early seventies and we all understand the unspoken appeal of this whole story, but at the end of this documentary I kind of felt a little sad that our world has become a place where things like this are essentially impossible to pull off nowadays and amazed that this guy and his gang of buddies did it.

• Absorbing and joyful valentine to an historic achievement in pursuing one's dreams posted on 02 Aug 2009

  MAN ON WIRE (2008) **** Wholly absorbing and ultimately rewardingly fascinating documentary about the historical event of French tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daredevil theatrics in crossing over the chasm of NYC's World Trade Center twin towers in 1975. The film is treated almost as a bank heist thriller as Petit recalls in flashback recreations of his incredible plan/dream/life-time achievement in hatching the idea on a whim to a nearly obsessive fever-dream in self-fulfillment of destined derring-do. Director James Marsh makes a clever thriller and lump-in-the-throat valentine to the iconic feat that is only more poignant in the shadow of 9/11 (which is the subtext but never mentioned). A truly magical and at times funny and in the process, humane tale of one man's desire as a global moment in time. A must see and one of the year's best and my choice for Best Documentary Nominee for this year's Oscars.

• Beautiful film, fascinating characters, sublime acts. posted on 02 Aug 2009

  We saw this film at the Edinburgh Film Festival, it's European premier, and it was a packed audience. Unfortunately due to an error, the reels were swapped in the middle of the film, which threw the timing a bit but to be honest the poor organisers looked so miserable as they apologised that no one minded, and the film was just as beautiful as it should have been.We were lucky enough to have a Q&A with the director and the star, Philippe Petit where we all asked the same old questions; 'how did it feels?' 'are you scared of death?' 'what made you do it?' but what made the experience and the film so refreshing was the personality of Petit. Of course you would assume he is a rampant egotist, he was a very good looking young man, talented, with a raft of friends happy to be involved in his dangerous and exciting endevours. Petit is actually incredibly funny and oblivious. I would describe his act not as simply entertainment but as a sublime experience, taking us to the edge of terror and death.I was worried I'd spend the whole film with clammy hands, watching a guy on a high wire so high up, but his friend describes it so well the feeling you get watching him walk up there, it's so poetic and peaceful.This is a very unusual film, very beautiful and exciting. I would say that it is suitable for any age but take your mum and dad, they'll love it.

• If I Die? What a Beautiful Death! posted on 29 Jul 2009

  Man on Wire (2008) **** There was no why. No rhyme or reason, other than the fact that those towers existed. Existed, as one friend notes, for Philippe Petit to walk between them. People have always found it difficult to comprehend that Petit wire walked between the World Trade Center towers, nearly 1400 feet above the ground, without being able to justify his cause. Petit once simply stated that when he sees oranges, he juggles; when he sees two towers, he walks.The story of how Petit and his motley crew pulled off the stunt is just as interesting as the walk itself. That day in August 1974 and the events which lead up to it are the focus of James Marsh's incredible documentary, Man on Wire. Marsh mixes documentary footage, provided by Petit and his colleagues, with reconstructions, blended so seamlessly every foot of film might as well be authentic. Petit and his friends tell the story with eager enthusiasm, particularly Petit himself. He is a man like no other. He is a ball of energy and charisma, completely harmless to everyone but perhaps himself. He has remained a child at heart.He details the moment when he first concocted the idea to walk between the towers. While sitting in a dentist's chair, waiting to have a tooth fixed, he catches a glimpse of the towers as they are being constructed in a newspaper. He ran out of the dentist's office in a state of grace. He gleefully recounts that he didn't stick around to get his tooth fixed, and suffered the pain for weeks. But pain was no matter, he'd found his dream. He described his intentions not as a wire walker setting out to conquering heights, but as a poet looking to conquer the stage. A friend recounts that each day for Philippe was a work of art.Petit had walked between the towers at Notre Dame, and the harbour bridge in Sydney. He was always arrested afterward of course. How joyful that when he was arrested after completing his feat in Sydney that his first order of business was to pick the watch of the police man arresting him for a gag! His reckless love for what he was doing was not fool hardy though. "The fact that death frames what you are doing makes you take it very seriously," he explains. Death was of course on his mind, but his aims were as a poet, a dreamer, an artist - not a dare devil: "If I die, what a beautiful death!" To accomplish his walk between the towers required months of preparation. The crew practiced in a field in France, with a wire the exact length between the towers. To mimic conditions, he had his friends jump and pull on the wires. He never loses balance, his concentration is impeccable. But the work doesn't end just with practice. They had to get nearly a ton of equipment to the top, all without being discovered - at least as impossible as the walk itself. They had to somehow get the rope across. How they do so is ingenious. They acquired id's to get inside, dressed as a mix of businessmen and construction workers (the towers were still partially under construction. One of the most incredible parts of the story is the night they went up to set everything up and do the walk. They're interrupted by a security guard as they begin unpacking. Philippe and his friend Jean-Francois have to run and hide under a tarp, on a beam above the WTC's 400 meter elevator shaft. They hide there, their bodies tangled, not moving, not speaking, for hours waiting for the guard to leave.Man on Wire is built like a suspense film. It's engrossing and expertly crafted, and told with the passion and thoroughness of oral storytellers of old. Philippe Petit speaks as if he were reciting poetry in his thick French accent. Marsh accentuates the action with pitch perfect choices in the soundtrack, ranging from Satie and other classics to the disco classic A Fifth of Beethoven.When Petit finally makes his walk, his friends gathered to watch below as he either committed suicide or one of the most poetic crimes of the century, the emotion is overwhelming. He recounts it with unbridled joy, his friends with tears in their eyes. I too was nearly moved to tears of joy. I can't remember the last documentary film to strike such a chord.If Petit had of failed, he would have fallen to his death and likely been remembered as "that idiot." Petit recalls thinking with one foot on the wire, that to place his other foot on it and take that step was probably going to be the end of his life. Well, this life. If he fell, he would have fallen "to another life." That was his philosophy. But he didn't fall. He made it, 8 times. One police officer describes him as a dancer - he didn't just walk. He taunted police, laid down, knelt down. He had the time of his life. He was arrested with force as soon as he stepped onto the south tower - the police did not take kindly to his taunts. The charge: trespassing and disturbing the peace. The sentence: perform a show for the kids in the park as penance.There is something so life affirming about one man boldly walking into what should have been his demise. People responded to his act of daring as if he had given charity. In a way, he had. His performance was a gift to the world. What that gift was is as abstract as the reasons for the walk itself. Sometimes we don't know why something is beautiful, we just know it is. What Philippe Petit did was beautiful, a work of poetic grandeur. Why I do not know. Words do not exist to explain. I just know.

• The triumph of will - MAN ON WIRE is the unexpected showstealer of the year posted on 23 Jul 2009

  "Genius is a transcendent capacity for taking trouble first of all" Frederick the great by Thomas Carlyle "Genius: the mental endowment peculiar to an individual; that disposition or aptitude of mind which qualifies a person for a certain kind of action or special success in a given pursuit." Webster's International Dictionary This is Phillip Petit, the 25 year old who in August of 1974 walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the WTC. Yet what is that which makes a documentary on such a fantastic, quixotic accomplishment relevant to us mortals? Is it not the same kind of awe the passers by experienced when they saw that morning a tiny figure suspended above the void, the same kind of marvel the people interviewed experienced again when they described Petit's walking on air some thirty years later? What is Petit's accomplishment if not a profound religious experience, a form of divinity in itself? And it is exactly because Petit's action bears no explanation, it has no rationale behind its daring do, no tangible end by which to hold it and examine it in the light of logic. The action in the same time the reason of it. What did Petit accomplish but a monument of human perseverance, enduring will and the triumph of mind over matter? If MAN ON WIRE is so successful at what it does, it's not only because of the feat it purports to describe but because of the path it takes in describing it. Staging it as a heist thriller, filmed in black and white in shades of noir, orchestrated like a bank robbery of sorts, the same kind of films Petit laboriously studied as he was preparing his takeover. By presenting us with real people who emote better than a lot of actors could even dream of. By placing Phillip Petit pivotal in the narration of the events unfolding, a passionate man with an almost half-mad gleam in his eye but also a love of life that leaps across the screen as utterly genuine. By adopting the skeleton of a real movie - not a sterile "went there, did that" documentary but one with a premise, plot, setup and payoff, climax and conclusion.Filmed with true cinematographic flair, in turns suspenseful, faith-reaffirming and awe-inspiring, MAN ON WIRE is the unexpected show-stealer of the year, sneaking under the nose of Hollywood behemoths with 50 times its budget and doing what they're too sluggish to do, too dazzled by their own spectacle. A simple story beautifully told.

• Very interesting documentary about a man with a dream posted on 19 Jul 2009

  One of the greatest parts of this movie to me was when Philippe Petit, the man who walked on a wire between New York's Twin towers, says that when asked why he did this feat, he answered simply "there is no why." This really seemed beautiful to me that a man would devote his life to something just for the sake of doing it. The film takes us back to a time when Petit was at the dentist, at age 11, and saw a picture of the Twin Towers being built in a newspaper. He recounts to us how he just ran out the dentist's and into the street, in complete bliss. A friend says in an interview that these towers were built for him to walk between, and Petit apparently felt the same way, with the rest of his life from that point on devoted to his dream.I must admit that I saw the film after it one the best Documentary Feature Oscar at the Academy Awards. It won this and any awards it won deservingly. The film jumps fluidly back and forth in time, using interviews, reconstructed footage of Petit's early life and preparation for the event, and actual footage of the event itself seamlessly. Everything fits together and feels very real. I won't say that this is the best movie I've seen, for parts of it tend to drag, but once you see the "man on wire" in action, you are held breathless.

• Twin Towers remembered posted on 09 Jul 2009

  A real treat, especially for documentary lovers, this film will undoubtedly resonate for all of us around the anniversary of September 11th 2001. It tells of tightrope-walker Philippe Petit (the French have a wonderful word, funambule) and his obsession with conquering the Twin Towers. And yes, I do mean what you think I mean. Having strung a wire between the towers of Notre Dame de Paris, and then between those of the Sydney Harbour bridge, and proceeded to walk, kneel, lie down, turn around and juggle on them, Petit and his accomplices planned the spectacular and all but impossible challenge of doing the same for WTC North and South towers. It is of course illegal to do this sort of thing, but they had got away with it before. Interweaving documentary footage, reconstruction and talking head reminiscences of the participants – Petit himself is infectiously enthusiastic – Marsh fashions a film which tantalisingly revisits the progress of events on the day and then leaves us dangling (sorry) to go back and explain or amplify earlier events and preparations. Despite the security challenges, the dangers of cross winds, wire oscillation and tension, not to mention the difficulty of getting an extremely heavy length of cable up a hundred flights and getting it two hundred feet to the opposite tower, the group pulled it off. It's a breathtaking viewing experience, conveying something of the awe the event inspired in bystanders back in 1974, and this despite the lack of moving images depicting the coup itself.

• It started with a Toothache posted on 03 Jul 2009

  Greetings again from the darkness. Documentarian James Marsh is a smart filmmaker. Here he has an incredibly engaging and energetic subject and he wisely lets Phillipe Petit (and his cronies) tell the story.An intertwined performance from Messr. Petit (today), film clips and photos of his early years, and insight from his unlikely support group who helped him pull off the "artistic crime of the century" ... a high-wire dance between the twin towers in 1974.Documentaries rarely have the element of surprise on their side, so it is always a challenge to tell the story in a manner that grabs the viewer. Here Phillipe Petit does what he has always done ... he performs for the audience. Even as he pantomimes his actions of over 30 years ago, one can see the young man in his gleaming eyes.The clips of the actual event are much better than the dramatization of the set-up. In fact, some of the home movies of Petit's practice sessions are priceless. However, the closest thing we get to a surprise is the bumbling goofs that make up his support team, save friend JL, who is captivating and emotional.What prevents this one from being great is that we are given very little details on Petit since his amazing event in 1974. I guess we are supposed to read his book.

• Man on Wire posted on 15 Jun 2009

  I had heard about this film mainly for being British made, it won a deserved Academy Award, and the concept of the film was most appealing. Basically this drama documentary is the story of Philippe Petit, the French wire walker, juggler and street performer who in 1974 achieved his dream of walking across a high wire connected between the rooftops of the Twin Towers in New York City. This documentary is made up of traditional interviews of all people involved in making this event happen, archive footage of the people preparing for it, and some recreated material of the event. It is a shame that the full 45 minute walk across the wire isn't available, only photos of it survived, but you can still admire all the remarkable story. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary, Features, and it won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, and it was nominated the Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer for Simon Chinn (producer). Very good!

• Remembering The Twin Towers In A Much Different (And Better) Light... posted on 15 Jun 2009

  What many considered "the artistic crime of the century," French high-wire walker Philippe Petit did what today would be impossible (because they don't exist and because of security) by performing a tightrope walk between New York City's World Trade Center twin towers ...in 1974.The feat itself isn't as interesting as the preparation and the history behind Philippe's successful walk. Having scaled between the arches at Notre Dame and the Harbor Bridge pillars in Sydney, Australia, Philippe's goal from early on was to walk on a wire much, much higher. At just over 1,350 above street level, the twin towers were his goal.Friends and even workers within New York's buildings aided Philippe in surprising ways. Many backed out when they realized how close he was to actually doing it, worried that if he fell to his death they would be partially responsible.But nothing was going to hold Philippe back. Security guards, wind, fog and fearful friends all plagued his attempt ...to no avail.As stated earlier, the preparation was fascinating, showing the documentary watcher the tensile strength needed to span the buildings, the bypassing of security guards, and the near failure of the entire episode because of a severe sagging of the wire during its initial deployment. The tense nature of how the story unfolded was pretty phenomenal. Looking up from the ground at Philippe as he walked the wire was simply awe-inspiring; he looked like a speck against the higher clouds.Arrested after his successful walk, the words "Man on wire" appeared on the violation written up by the New York P.D., which is where the film gained its title. But the film is much more than a simple man doing a tightrope walk. It's a historical recounting of one man's goal to achieve what seemed unachievable.It is strange to see a man doing something artistically dangerous — and illegal — on things that no longer exists. Perhaps that added to my enjoyment of the documentary. After watching the horribleness of 9/11 time and time again, it was unique and refreshing to see something being done to the towers of a quaint and beautiful nature. Something that many Americans probably have trouble attributing to the twin towers now. Which is why you should watch this.Thank you, Philippe.

• Greatness/ The greatness of the human spirit . . . posted on 13 Jun 2009

  In announcing the Audience Award for this film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Sir Sean Connery described it as one of the best three films he had seen EVER. With that heavy recommendation, I was well-primed to disagree. I'm not sure about the numbers, but it one of the best and most worth-while documentary films I have ever seen, if not the best.The synopsis hardly impels people into the cinema. So let me tell you how it won the audience award. Into entered the chart at the top and stayed there, beating various mainstream releases scheduled for release instantly. The effect on audiences is remarkable. It touches people.The great philosopher Wittgenstein said he went to fight on the front line, so that, as a philosopher, he could have a better comprehension of life and death. For the Frenchman in this film, it is about art. An artistic accomplishment that is serious. A high-wire walker/dancer that pictures himself as a poet, conquering beautiful stages. And from the age of seventeen his ultimate dream-stage is the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre. His passion for life is like that of the early mountaineers. An exaltation of the human spirit. A triumph of skill and daring. Life and death in the same frame. Asked why, he replies, "There is no why."Placing a tightrope between the towers is, of course, illegal. So he plans it as carefully as a bank robbery. An interesting reflection on rules being there to be broken is cast up - but neatly parallelling the contemporaneous Watergate, we ask, to what end? Balanced along the 200 feet between the towers, a quarter of a mile from the ground, he dances back and forth eight times. We are left breathless and moist-eyed. And then he is then duly arrested and sent for psychiatric treatment (an amusing comment on how the American system can treat greatness).Man on Wire is a beautiful film. An inspiring film. A film of a human being totally committed to his calling. And in a very small way perhaps, a crowning tribute to the magnificence of the architecture before it was destroyed.

• Would have made a better movie posted on 11 Jun 2009

  Don't get me wrong here. "Man on Wire" was a fascinating story and documentary, and it even has some inspirational value to it. There are a ton of facts in this film that make it enjoyable and interesting to watch. The story is engaging, if for no other reason, because Philippe Petit is such a great storyteller. An example of this is seen in an early scene is which he tells how he ripped an article about the future Twin Towers out of a magazine at the dentist's office and went home with a toothache for the next week, though he admitted it was worth it all because the article helped him fulfill his dream. Although interesting, the fact that this film is a documentary makes it drag a little at some spots. In my opinion, this story would have been a lot better in movie form. Some of the events are so well described here that they could have been made into somewhat of a caper film. Such events as Petit sneaking into the building, hiding from guards, and of course, pulling off his amazing act of walking between the towers, would be somewhat more interesting if we could watch them acted out. Nevertheless, I give this film a recommendation. I had no prior knowledge of this before I saw it, so I found it an interesting story and depiction. It would have been better as a movie, best still worthy of the Academy Awards' Best Documentary.*** out of ****

• Amazing footage of the towers! posted on 10 May 2009

  Before the awful events of September the 11th 2001 i knew very little about the World Trade Centre in New York apart from seeing them many times amidst the New York skyline on TV or in magazines. Ever since those mighty towers amazingly collapsed so easily i have been fascinated with everything about them and although Man on Wire is not specifically about the towers themselves it gives great insight into the building and running of the towers which includes some amazing old footage. On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman called Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire suspended between New York's twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After an hour dancing on the wire, with no safety net or harness, he was arrested and thrown into an underground prison. Until that moment no one but Petit and his team of accomplices, who had spent months planning their illegal 'coup' (as they referred to it amongst themselves) knew anything about it. Born out of a dream and an idea, Petit and his team of accomplices spent eight months planning the execution of their 'coup' in the most intricate detail. Like a team of professional bank robbers planning their most ambitious heist, the tasks they faced seemed virtually insurmountable: they would have to find a way to bypass the WTC's security; to smuggle the wire and rigging equipment into the towers; to suspend the wire between the two towers; to secure the wire at the correct tension to withstand the winds and the swaying of the buildings; to rig it secretly by night – all without being caught. Not to mention the walk itself…I think what makes this Documentary so watchable is the way Director James Marsh combines original footage with some reconstruction . A combination that usually puts me off watching documentaries but combined with some superb atmospheric music ,great interviews and a gripping story this really works.Some of the footage of Philippe Petit as a young man is amazing.The enthusiasm he shows when practising the rope walking man shines through and even now as a 59 year old man that enthusiasm remains. When he tells the story his eyes light up and you can see he is a proud man when recalling his big achievement in life. I should imagine that at the time , he would have been a difficult man to work with and that is shown at times when friends and colleagues talk emotionally about fall outs that they had with him.Despite the enormity of what he did i never felt that he was in any danger walking between those towers. After all he was a expert in his field and everything he seemed to do came so naturally. At one stage Petit Says "If I die, what a beautiful death! " but i don't believe he ever thought that was going to happen.Because i never sensed that he was in any danger the walk played second fiddle to the film footage of the towers themselves . There are some amazing scenes where the construction workers are moving and fixing the girders and steel structures in place on the south tower, the very same lumps of steel that we saw as a tangled mess on the afternoon of September the 11th.I'm always in two minds as to whether a documentary like this can be classed as a movie so I'm always reluctant to review them . Man on Wire is entertaining but is it worthy of winning an Oscar as it did last month? Or should "Best Documentary" even be a category?I'm not so sure. 7 out of 10

• Exemplary documentary- making posted on 22 Apr 2009

  On the morning of 7 August 1974, Frenchman Philippe Petit did the seemingly impossible: after six years of planning, for 45 minutes, he walked a tight rope slung between the two towers of the still-uncompleted World Trade Center, spanning the 140-foot (43 metres) gap at a height of 1,368 ft (417 metres). On 11 September 2001, terrorists perpetrated the absolutely unthinkable: they flew two aircraft into the towers, bringing them down and killing 2,750. In 2008, British director James Marsh produced the award-winning account of the 1974 feat which has gained a special poignancy in the light of the 9/11 attack.The documentary is a mix of homemade footage of Petit's early career, some contemporary coverage of the walk, re-enactments of the entry to the towers, and extensive interviews with Petit and his key accomplices, skilfully cut together in a gripping narrative with atmospheric music by Michael Nyman and others. The amazingly colourful characters could not have been invented, most notably Petit himself whose impish facial expressions, heavily-accented English, compulsiveness and humour shine through this literally incredible tale. Neither Petit nor Marsh put a foot wrong.

• Exceptional documentary. posted on 18 Apr 2009

  James Marsh directs this exceptional documentary about a most daring accomplishment imaginable. On film we see the mental, emotional and physical preparation by Philippe Petit, a 24-year old Frenchman, who accomplished a life long dream. That dream became reality on August 7, 1974, when Petit and his crew of friends strung a cable in between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. On that wire some 1,350 feet above the hustle and bustle of New York City Petit spent 45 minutes walking across from building to building. His acrobatic movements and stunts on the wire cable have been described as "dancing in the clouds". Petit would be arrested and charged with all charges dropped later after performing tricks for school students. Editing is fantastic and the documentary filled with actual newsreel footage and personal photos is held together with music by Michael Nyman that is almost cerebral and definitely melancholic.MAN ON WIRE contains newsreel footage of the erection of the WTC twin towers. And it is a bit eerie watching knowing the future fate of those towers.

• 'The Artistic Crime Of The Century': They Left The Film Camera Behind... posted on 16 Apr 2009

  When I first heard of this film I was intrigued. I'd never heard of a hire-wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. I then heard that there was no actual footage of the feat itself, and I more or less completely lost interest - thought I might watch when it inevitably appeared on the BBC. Anyway, now I've seen it...After lugging all that equipment to the top of the twin towers, in secret, after all that planning, waiting, anticipation, it wouldn't have hurt for one of them to take a little super 8 camera would it? It seems even more incredible when you see all the other footage they made at the time...they filmed the Notre Dame stunt, they filmed the Sydney Harbour Bridge stunt, and they seem to film each other all the time: talking, planning and practising for the World Trade Center in their house and extensive back garden; they practically filmed each other going to the toilet. Yet, when it came to the 'artistic crime of the century', they make the brilliant artistic decision to leave the camera at home. That, it seems to me, was the bigger crime. It certainly made my jaw drop, anyway.Petit's character was more interesting than the stunt itself in a way; how did he come to be doing all this? It was never made clear, and there was practically nothing in the film about his family or background, apart from one contributor remarking upon his strict upbringing. What did his parents make of his stunts? Were they worried? Who were they? We can be pretty sure that Petit was looked after with a colossal private income, unless he had an amazingly well paid part-time job, which paid for thousands and thousands of francs worth of expensive equipment and constant flights to New York and back.The 'docu-drama' style was dated and irritating in places, as was Michael Nyman's annoyingly pseudo-classical score, regurgitated from 'The Draughtman's Contract'. The narrative was muddled. There was no tension created from the retelling or reconstruction of the subterfuge involved in smuggling the equipment to the top of the towers. It's a given that they got the wire across and fastened. We know he succeeded before we've seen the film, so why spend half an hour lulling us to sleep with dull technical details?.It was certainly quite a feat, but I'm not sure about it being an inspiring one. Personally it made me feel a bit ill to think of him up there, and it really achieves nothing other than self-congratulation. The tag-line for this film was 'The Artistic Crime of the Century'. Well, technically a crime, but also technically circus skills rather than art. And I don't need to ask why he did it; he's a gargantuan show-off, simple as that. The potentially interesting question of why he became one was criminally glossed over by this piece of 'art'.

• Utterley Pathetic posted on 16 Apr 2009

  I went into this movie with an open mind but fascinated to find a character who so completely encapsulated everything that i hate. Phillipe Petite and sycophantic friends disgorged their version of events as if they had discovered a cure for aids/cancer/death. I found their admiration of this glorified clown confusing in the extreme, only surpassed in intensity by Phillipe's admiration for himself. Petite manages not only to blow his own trumpet but also the horn, tuba and saxophone. This event seemed primarily concerned in stroking the ego of Phillipe and his desperate aching and repulsive need for approval, probably motivated by a childhood lack from his military father. I eventually felt sorry for Phillipe, though he seemed perfectly happy continuing on, riding even now the wave on his perceived greatness. Though this is like pity for a dog one thinks has a boring life - pointless, Petite is bizarrely fulfilled and to reveal to him the irrelevance of his deed would surely crush his fragile and childlike mind.

• a fascinating and even wondrous man caught in a beautiful movie, not just documentary posted on 21 Mar 2009

  I went to see Man on Wire with my mother and a friend, and after it my mother said simply "something like this will never happen again." Meaning not so much that someone won't try something death-defying or crazy like walking a tight rope somewhere or climbing up a building (matter of fact that still happens in Manhattan as recently as a couple of months back), but that this sort of situation- a man going across something as perilous and unique as the Twin Towers- is based in a film that preserves his story like so. Philippe Petit was already a tight-rope walker who did some crazy stunts (i.e. crossing Notre Dame's stretch of space in Paris), but this was his crowning achievement which, oddly enough, didn't quite get the kind of buzz the film might depict; the day of Petit's walk across the towers, Nixon resigned from the presidency.Just a simple profile on the man might be enough, and hearing this artist (however "French" he might get in saying that it's like poetry, which maybe it is for all I know) is something to behold as a figure who sees himself as a rebel but not without some reason or in what he does. But Marsh's magnificence is first to actually make us forget, just a second, that the towers are no longer with us; it's never mentioned in the film that they're gone, so the lingering absence is all the more troubling once remembered by the viewer. One is left with the purity of this on-the-surface stunt that becomes akin to a bank robbery to Petit, as he plans and spies on the site and forms a 'crew' to do the job of sneaking up to the top level and for three days continuing to stay elusive (even going under a tarp for hours on end with a co-hort to hide from guards) while attaching the cables- which also, at one point, nearly falls apart as a plan.Then, second, Marsh reveals himself as good as a director of dramatization in a documentary I've seen since Errol Morris; perhaos even more daring with his black and white photography of what starts as a sneak-in (watch for fake sideburns on the actors), then transforms into a full-blown noir with beautiful lighting and exterior shots of the building and other angles that just stun the crap out of a viewer not expecting such artistry. In a sense Marsh is attempting something as daring as Petit, only by way of telling the story, however non-linearly, in a manner that should get his DP an academy nomination (if, of course, the academy ever got wise to nominate for cinematography for a documentary). And, on top of this, despite knowing partially the outcome- mainly, of course, that Petit lived to tell his tale to the camera as did his (once) friends and lover- it's still thrilling and even suspenseful to see all of this buildup if one isn't entirely researched on the details.But it's not just about the build-up and execution of that tight-rope walk, although when Marsh gets the chance to show his subject walking across this or other examples he puts it to beautiful, heart-aching music that transcends the material just enough. The man himself, and the people who knew and/or worked under him, takes up most of the time in the story. Petit is a curious fellow who can ramble like any energetic and, obviously, passionate Frenchman, and confesses how he's always been a climber since a child and loves the aspect of showmanship when he can (when not wire walking, he juggles and rides a unicycle, a lovely if strange clown).We also see his effect on others, like his friend Jean-Louis who co-planned the WTC project, and his lover Annie Alix who found him irrisistable and barely spent a moment worrying what would happen to him. And then there's the assorted 'characters', like in any good noir, that spring up as entertaining and interesting both in present and retrospect form; even a guy with one of those *real* twirling moustaches comes forward and talks, as well as one particular member of the crew who spent 35 years smoking pot and also during the WTC job (Marsh has a wonderful way of sort of 'introducing' them as well, in a walk-in profile and name tag). Hearing them expound about the mechanics of the job, and of Petit's personality and effect on them all, for better or worse as a kind of partially blind optimist, is also a major part of the appeal in Man on Wire.While Marsh possibly leaves out some possibly intriguing details about Petit after this job ends (save for the immediate details about his sentence and a brief, Clockwork Orange-filmed 'fling' with a local girl), and here and there finding him or even the film pretentious isn't out of the question, so much of it is alive and enthralling and even spiritual to a certain degree that I could forigve most of its possible faults. Just seeing some of that 8mm and film footage, shot at the practice sites, and the stills of Petit's walk late in life, is something that's hard to even put into words how to feel. I'm almost reminded of the wonder one feels when seeing the physically demanding art of Jean-Cristo, who also finds specific locations to pursue his craft. You can't say it specifically, but you know it's art, as is Marsh's film itself.