It's notoriously hard to get me hooked on documentaries lately. A few years ago I loved them, then they all sort of fell into similar patterns and became boring. I got tired of the rote nature of most of them, and sorta pulled myself away from watching them. It didn't help that I spent some time as a documentary screener for SilverDocs film festival, and burned myself out watching around fifty documentaries in about a month's time. The last couple of years have seen a resurgence in the genre for me, thanks mostly to a deluge of amazing docs like No End in Sight, Sicko, and Taxi to the Dark Side. 2008 has been another great year for documentaries, but without doubt Man on Wire was the best of the bunch.
The film chronicles Philippe Petit and his attempt to highwire walk across the World Trade Center towers back in 1974. The film chronicles Petit's earlier walks, including his famous walk across the Notre Dame de Paris. Petit was a renowned street performer, juggler, unicyclist, but his passion was wire walking. He became inspired to walk across the Twin Towers after reading an article depicting the as yet unbuilt buildings. He from then on had a single minded focus to conquer the structures, and the lives of those around him became engulfed in his plans.
What makes this film so unique is that it's structured like a heist movie. The players are introduced like something out of a lineup. All the many people who would help craft Petit's plan to sneak into the WTC and complete the elaborate setup. Some of the members of Petit's crew were of a questionable nature, but that was exactly the type of people he would need to complete such a monumental task. Being someone who had never heard anything about this before, it was hard for me to believe that a plan as intricate as this could be pulled off in NYC of all places. It's sortof a throwback to a simpler, somewhat happier time. If Petit tried something like this now, he'd probably be in GITMO with clamps on his testes.
Using archival footage and some of the most stirring images I have ever seen(including one of a plane flying overhead as Petit walked the wire), Man on Wire is a beautiful film to behold. It's impossible to escape the spectre of 9-11 as one watches this stirring love letter to the "greatest city in the world", but 9-11 is never once mentioned much to the film's benefit. To bring it up would have tarnished what was already a monumental achievement, but also would have tarnished what was a remarkably uplifting film. It's hard not to root for the flamboyant Petit, as he dances across the wire 1300 feet in the air, smiling and provoking the cops as they wait to arrest him. I haven't had fun like this at a documentary since...well, ever.
I know docs aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I can't recommend a film more than this. It won't feel like any doc you've ever seen, and I guarantee you'll be more engrossed in the heist feel of it more than you would be watching The Bank Job or any other such film.
8/10
Next up: Havoc 2: Normal Adoolescent Behavior
