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Now On DVD: James Marsh, Man on Wire
01/20/2009 In August 1974, Phillipe Petit attached a tightrope between the north and south towers of the World Trade Center, walked across it eight times, then stopped in the middle for a sit. But what makes Man on Wire, the 2008 film about the event, so thrilling isn't the footage of the 110-story tall high-wire walk, it's watching the tightly wound protagonist and his scheme mature and unfold. After reading about the WTC's planned construction in the early 60s, Petit obsesses for a decade about balancing at a height taller than his homeland's Eiffel Tower. He hones his skills performing a walk between the twin towers of Notre-Dame de Paris' western facade as New York's concrete and steel structure is built. And the framing of Petit's growth as a high wire walker against the tower's construction reminds us of the indestructibility of intangible dreams and fragility of colossal form. James Marsh's documentary of Petit's walk in the clouds unfolds like a tense heist movie. Petit hand picks a gang to help him pull off his coup. We meet Annie Allix, the love who worries over and supports the schemer and his scheme, and Jean-Louis Blondeau, the best friend and No. 2. Petit and his team of conspirators stake out the towers, take photos of every steel bolt and diagram every inch. They've planned the crime down to its atoms and we get to revel in their execution. Marsh shoots the recreated scenes in full noir: the tightrope team moves through the building and up the staircases as a shadowed mass, their silent feet scurrying tight to the walls. They hold their breaths and hide under cloth tarps while security guards make their flashlight rounds. It's superb and unnerving. Your lips zip and your shoulders tense as you watch. Your heart thumps right along with these sneaks. Marsh steadies the furious, wire-taught recreations with interviews that are both jovial and misty. Petit under questioning does nothing but spring from the screen in body and voice - in his older age he's still as energetic as the young man learning his high-flying act in the film's home movie footage. Although his colleagues and former lovers happily reminisce, they appear well-worn from their experiences. Blondeau sheds tears remembering the bonds made during the planning. The depth of Petit's passion, as well as his new found fame, eventually dissolved these friendships. But Petit, to this day obsessed with ambition, seems unaffected by the loss perhaps he's still amazed at what he accomplished - and Man on Wire doesn't plumb this material to deeply. But because the film rarely shifts focus from Petit's tenacity, you'll feel a little cheated by these emotional omissions, possibly you'll want to know more about the dark side of determination. At the same time, the film is very successful with its most obvious omissions: not once does Man on Wire mention 9-11. It's wonderful to watch the construction of the WTC without any force fed connection to tragedy and geo-politics; we're so familiar with the terror surrounding its destruction and often forget that the building was once awe inspiring as a feat of architecture. Petit's illegal act can be seen as an artistic answer to the tower's size, a fog dance between two gargantuan immeubles - steel and ego - and the film can serve as a historical document for a generation that's unfamiliar with the WTC's former magic. And the rest of us, old enough to feel the weight of pairing a sneak with a national icon, can simply appreciate the lofty human creativity the film celebrates. Comments [post a comment]Comments are closed |
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Monday, March 15, 2010
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Man On Wire World Trade Center Tightrope Film Movie Documentary