Man on Wire

When I get movies from Netflix, they tend to languish for a week or two until I've watched all my discs of TV series. I had "Man on Wire" for three weeks before I finally popped it in the DVD player last night...and WOW. This film, though techically a documentary, views like a great suspense thriller. The story traces the events leading up to and following French tightrope walker Phillipe Petit's unbelievable feat of walking a wire between the Two Towers of the World Trade Center. He and a group of accomplices planned the stunt for years, beginning even before the Towers were constructed. Phillipe himself is the primary interviewee for the film, but many of his friends and accomplices are featured as well. It's amazing to watch his friends talk about the event: it happened over thirty years ago now, but the simultaneous joy and terror they felt is completely fresh on their faces. A couple of them are even moved to tears as they tell the story. Phillipe, on the other hand, talks about facing death with an astounding nonchalance that leads you to conclude that he is either brilliantly enlightened and spiritually secure...or 100% bat crazy. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle.

Watching video clips of Petit's FORTY FIVE MINUTES spent walking the wire (eight crossings in all, including rest time during which he lays down on the wire) is a very strange experience. There is no doubting the sheer beauty of what he did, for one. Sitting on my firmly grounded couch, thirty years in the future, my heart was in my throat and I felt extremely moved as I watched. At the same time, I felt it impossible to ignore the feeling that there is something insensitive about the way he discusses the events without a single mention of 9/11. It may have been the filmmakers' choice and not Petit's, but it feels very strange to have no mention at all of what his feat means today in light of the horrors of victims jumping from the buildings. I don't think acknowkledging this unavoidable lens would have taken away from his feat--it might even make it seem more triumphant and transcendent.