2008, UK/USA
Adventure, Documentary
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Extended version:
Why walk a wire between the Twin Towers, nearly 1,400 feet above ground? "That was a very American, finger-snapping question. I did something very magnificent and mysterious...and the beauty of it is that I didn't have any 'why,' " states Philippe Petit, star of the documentary, Man on Wire.
Director James Marsh (The King) relates the story of this phenomenal feat based on French performance artist Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, by allowing Petit to use his own poetic words, his cohorts to speak more pragmatically and archival footage which would seem to have been recorded for posterity or as a future memorial of the risky event. As his friend Jean-Louis recalled, "We're going to die...we're going to live."
The year was 1974, and America was reeling from the recent Supreme Court decision against President Nixon. Though Marsh alludes to this bit of history, rather than implying that the nation needed a distraction, it feels like a footnote to Petit's goal. Everything feels secondary to his ambition. He speaks as if constantly on the stage with the world as his to enjoy, and there is undoubtedly something magnetic about such a personality.
Petit describes his motivation as a dream, and much of his life accomplishes such a delusional reality. He felt wire walking to be a natural progression from his talent for climbing, and his propensity to test boundaries led him to perform stunts above some of the world's greatest structures.
He and his team practiced stealth procedures on the Notre Dame cathedral and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Not only are the heights and safety risks impressive, but without authorization each task was prepared in secret. A man's life literally hung in the balance, but no one was aware until he was in the midst of the act, overcoming the obstacles of other people's limitations.
Petit claims the decision to bridge the World Trade Center was planted when first learning of their construction. He describes the realization in vivid fashion, as nothing in Petit's life is short of dramatic. Working from the idea that Petit and the structures were fated for one another, Marsh juxtaposes photos of Petit's childhood against footage of the WTC erection. In Petit's eyes, this is not ego but factual.
It is around the feeling of jeopardy that the film finds its attraction. With flashback reenactments that play out like a bank robbery in motion (or perhaps Watergate), the combination of danger and the thrill of avoiding arrest drives the characters involved -- and some cannot take it. The film's "heist music" pulses as Petit's partners in crime (each with an alias) recall the many times they felt they were pursuing an impossible deed.
Yet beyond the daredevilry, Petit reveals an artistry in his performance -- a literal bonding of humans to a human-made structure. Through his unannounced feats, he creates a pause for the worker bee city dweller -- an occasion to reconsider the possibilities of the architecture that surrounds them; a chance to look at the world through the eyes of a dreamer.