DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Man on Wire

Man On Wire

Rated PG-13
Running time: 1 hr 30 mins

Mikey @ The Movies Official Rating:

***** out of *****

Subject Matter:

A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century."

MY REVIEW

From my experience of documentary viewing, most of them have a subject matter about something positive or negative that's either affecting the country or a group of people that was a problem in the past and/or continues to be a situation now. It can be as something as little as the stand up comedian world being hassled by hecklers (Heckler) or something as severe as the Abu Ghriab torturing in 2003 (Standard Operating Procedure). Man on Wire takes sort of a different route that I'm used to seeing. It tells the story of a one time event that really only affected a handful of people, namely one man (Philippe Petit). It tells us the tale when he performed a dangerous high wire routine across the very tops of the World Trade Center towers.

Interesting enough, Man on Wire is probably the best documentary of the year in my opinion. Because in a weird way it is like a bank heist movie. Philippe even states that his plan to walk across the towers excited him on the level because it was like he was robbing a bank. The whole movie shows us the set up of this great "crime". We see his plans, we meet his posse, and we are shown in re-enactments, his breaking into the World Trade Center. They faked security badges, and pretended to be delivery men. At one point on the night of, they had to hide under tarps because of unplanned guards, for literally hours at a time in very uncomfortable positions. They had to walk up 30 flights of stairs with a bunch of equipment. Really, it was brilliantly planned. Because up until the actual walking the wire, they did not get caught, not one of them! Not even when they walked right past a security guard who was wide awake! Genius!

This story was just relayed to us very well. It was incredibly exciting, and it was just awe inspiring. This man showed us that if you have a dream, go for it! No dream can be that unattainable...I mean look what this man did! They all called him crazy, but at the same time described what he did as "beautiful", and really it was just that! I never heard of this man or this event before now, and I'm glad I got to watch this movie and learn something about a tiny little event in history.

I'd like to point out that the movie never once mentions the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Which personally I thought was very tasteful. These towers have a lot of history, and we don't just want to remember the bad and dwell on it. This movie actually made 9/11 kind of surreal and that much more haunting. Many, many American lives were lost that day at the World Trade Center, but just remember that one man's dream can to a reality on those same towers. Something just so bittersweet to remember through it all....

To view this film's theatrical trailer, click this link: Man on Wire

*This is the 159th new film I've seen and reviewed this year.

*This film is now on DVD.