Review of MAN ON WIRE

April 10, 2009

The subject of this acclaimed documentary is French acrobat Philippe Petit and his audacious crossing of the chasm between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on a tightrope on August 7, 1974. While it may seem like a contradiction in terms, but indeed "Man on Wire" is really a documentary that was executed with much suspense, so that the audience is fully in its grip to the very end. It fully deserves the awards it has earned last year from Sundance, all the way to the Oscar last February.

An amazing aspect was this project was the apparently complete video documentation of most of Philippe's early days in Paris with his girlfriend Annie and best pal Jean Louie, and how they supported Philippe's seemingly crazy quest. They were able to gather everyone who was involved in the big stunt to talk about their role in that event. It was really great to see all the protagonists as young people and how they look like now.

Philippe recounted his inspiration to cross the towers, allegedly even while the towers was still a plan on paper. The film was able to show breathtaking footage of his previous daring tightrope crossings at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Harbour Bridge in Sydney. The planning process details regarding the WTC crossing were also very fascinatingly recounted.

The director James Marsh was correctly ingenious when he decided to treat the run-up to the actual crossing like a criminal caper. Being a decidedly illegal act, Philippe and cohorts had to resort to to covert reconnaissance, fake ids and alibis, as well as sneaking and hiding around in the dead of night avoiding guards the very night before the big event.

They also frankly dealt with the aftermath of the stunt -- how the resulting heavy media publicity affected Philippe and his relationships with his friends. The inconclusive and unclear manner of the interviewees' statements at this point certainly added much to the drama of that moment.

******* spoiler warning ********

My one complaint about the film is that the highlight crossing of the towers did NOT actually have a video footage. After all of the heightened tension, we do not actually see the crossing as it happened that day. This supposedly main event was only told in the form of witness accounts and telescopic photographs. This, I felt, was a letdown.