Man on Wire

New York City.  Shocked faces.  People are pointing up at the twin towers. Everyone is staring skyward unbeleiving of what they are witnessing.  People look to each other, ‘is this really happening?’

The year is 1974, and at this moment frenchman Philippe Petite is a man on a wire, a wire taughtly connected between the rooftops of New York’s Twin Towers.  And one thing is clear, he is the happiest man in New York- a man realising a chilhood dream, a dream born even before the Twin Towers had been built.  Before the first foundation was laid, Philippe Petite had lived this moment a million times, and it is written all over his face.

Man on Wire is a fantastically told, incredibly crafted film.  If like me, you are wondering how this film relate this tale of daring to the tragic events of 2001, you may be in for a wonderful surprise.

It doesn’t.

This is not a story of the Twin Towers,  it is the storey of a man realising his childhood dream in the most magical way imaginable.

It is a very clever tool employed by the filmakers here, the fact that we all know what happens 17 years after the events of this film is left unspoken.  This film is a chance for the world to remember that The Twin Towers were born and had a life and a different story that the one we all know it for today. 

For that reason the film is doubly wonderous in that not only do we share Philippe Petite’s childlike glee and excitement in his retelling, re-living no less of his amazing tightrope walk,  but we also are warmed by the memory of an innocent past, where buildings stood proud and the world was a joyful and magical place (even if it wasn’t really, you are left with a feeling that it was, and are filled with a joy for the future)  Modern worries do not place in this stylised portrail of ‘the artistic crime of the century’ as it was dubbed. 

This film follows many of the rules of the modern documentary intercutting old footage with modern re-enactments and interviews with the key players, each re-telliing the tale from their own point of view.  Black and white footage is mixed fluidly with colour, much of the old footage of Phillipe and his buddies was actually filmed by themselves, and yet it feels as if if was filmed specifically for this film it has been edited so well into the narrative of the rest of the film.

I genuinely wondered how they managed to get someone who looked so much like a younger philippe for the re-enactment scenes that it took me a while to realise that it was actually old footage of a young philippe- the old footage and re-enactments are put together so well.

Philippe’s retelling of his story is specifically worth noting becasue he is such a vibrant character, he is clearly still full of zest in his life and the telling of the story lit a fire inside him that has him dancing around the room and peeking out through blankets.  And what a wonderful story it is too.

This film is highly recommended, it was a joy to watch- extremelly uplifting and very well made.  It is all the more wonderful for its choice of subject which is well suited to the was it was put together.  Documentaries can easily fall into the trap of becoming a bit too much talking-heady, but this film respects its amazing storey enough to keep enough happening on screen when it warrants the excitement of it and it expertly softens down in the right places.

The details of how philippe and his friends managed to pull this off are gripping and well told by everyone involved.  It is clearly such an amazing memory for those involved, we the viewer really share their emotions at the memory, particularly those friends that let philippe down at the last minute.

Seeing the real life news footage of the policeman who had to arrest phillipe after he came back off the wire, 45 minutes after stepping onto it no less, was really powerful, and really, filmicly captured for us the viewer of this film 25 years later, the amazement that those people staring up at the sky that day must have felt.

I look forward to further documentaries by the Director James Marsh, if they are half as well crafted as this film using subects even half as interesting they will be films worth looking forward to.

Go see this film.