Extraordinary Documentary!Now that this film has won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, any praise I may heap upon it is like putting a fuzzy red turtleneck on a Best in Show Sharpee. Cute and perhaps warming in the winter time, but like the Bible says, hiding the light under the bushel.
Never the less, let me say that I came across Man on Wire at the suggestion of a fellow film producer. I found it at my local Blockbuster. I grabbed it and decided to give it a whirl. Lets just say, it was the best whirl I have had in quite some time.
It is the story of Philippe Petit a Frenchman from France, who in 1974 decided to illegally sneak to the top of the World Trade Center Towers and connect a wire between the two towers. He then climbed out onto the wire with only his balancing pole to help him steady himself from the 1,368 foot plunge to the concrete below.
Now what is fascinating about this movie, is the skill in which the filmmakers tell the story and also how Phillipe recounts his story (he is fluent in English).
Phillipe is an artist and his art form is overcoming fear, heights and the authorities preventing him from mastering his structural nemesis. He explains with the glee of a young boy how he and his compatriots hid out on the top floor of the World Trade Center Towers for hours with the security guards mere feet away. He truly is a very likeable hero and you cheer for him throughout his entire quest to overcome the towers and you cant imagine how he will ever be able to do it, with all of the obstacles that get put in his path.
It is truly an inspiring and remarkable story. I dont believe I could recommend a Documentary film more than I do Man on Wire.
You can go to www.pubfilms.com to see more photos of this daring walk amongst the clouds.
I watched part of this documentary and it was fascinating but I had a hard time when he was out on the wire. I have been on top or the World Trade Center and looked down and I can't imagine being out on a wire.
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