Man on Wire - Review

In 1974 Philip Petit, a street performer from Paris tight-rope walked between the World Trade Center towers. It's common in history to find truly moving and completely honest tales of extraordinary acts, but few are told so effortlessly by the players themselves. Here is story of eccentricity and discipline like never before, and here's the best part: there is no why.

The story is constructed like a heist inter meshing actual footage and recreations, laying out the covert ascent the two teams took to the tops of the two towers. The building of models and the making of fake IDs. The story contains a surprising amount of humor, the gathering of information involved posing as a french news crew reporting on the constructing the two towers as a way to examine the roof tops and make their plans, also the surprising benefits to walking with crutches. It's impossible to not be drawn in by the intelligence and poinancy of the team that planned and executed this amazing feat of art.

The true magnetism of the film all lies in Petit himself whose personality jumps from the celluloid. His brilliance isn't so much in his feats, as in his life style, his courage and his candid attitude. For example, as a preparation for the twin towers heist, he tight rope walked across a bridge in Sydney, Austrailia. When he was arrested afterward, he stole and pocketed one of the officer's watches. He is fearless and animated to the end.

After the stunt, Petit learned of celebrity. He made headlines world wide and gave the World Trade Centers come much needed good press. When asked why he did this he said: il n'ya pas de pourquoi, there is no why.