“Man On Wire,” the new documentary about the great French funambulist Philippe Petit, tells the story of Petit’s passion for wire-walking, and focuses on his landmark achievement: illegally walking between the tops of the World Trade Center Twin Towers. As interesting as it is schizophrenic, the film depicts his experiences through present-day on-camera interviews – recreations that look like they could have been outtakes from the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” video – with men in campy fake moustaches and sideburns; archival film footage of his preparation for the event in the 70s; and still photographs, as there were no movie cameras there to capture his most famous crossing.
A total ham, Petit is also a natural raconteur. His animated style brings life to a taut heist-like narrative – gettin’ the team together and puttin’ together the elaborate break-in, filled with hilarious and bumbling idiot side characters. But like any good feature documentary where Europeans talk to Americans about living life on the edge of death, Petit spoils the film with on-the-nose existential questions that would have been better left unstated.
While Petit is the film’s charming, Peter Pan-like protagonist, the object of his dreams are the Twin Towers, and interestingly nothing is ever made of the fact that they are now gone. In fact, the only time it’s mentioned that they don’t exist happens when Petit remembers the moment he realized this dream to tightrope walk between them – when he saw a rendering of the towers in a magazine, long before they were built. The towers represent – at all times in this film – positive potential, and thus offer an audience of New Yorkers an opportunity to escape the memories of September 11, 2001, and regard the object of their nightmare indirectly.
After Petit’s famous walk, the filmmakers turn to interviews of his former girlfriend and his former partner. Petit put his life in their hands, and each of them says the same thing: that their relationship with Petit basically ended at the moment the stunt was complete. They weep, and we know why, but we can only really imagine what happened. Their loss is regarded mystically. But director James Marsh’s prudent choice to avoid a kind of mawkish and sentimental exploration of the loss of their friendships, and the loss of the towers, suggests a deeper intent of the filmmakers to give the audiences something they haven’t had in a long time – the opportunity to remember what it was like to look up at The Towers and just see architecture, awe, and innocence. [B+]
Written by contributor Alex Sherman.
Trailer: “Man On Wire”