Man On Wire

Copyright 2008, Magnolia Pictures

How does such a thing happen? How does a man walk on a tightwire from the end of one building to the next? How does such a thing happen in New York City, in the financial district? How does it happen at the World Trade Center? How did Phillippe Petit get away with this? Petit, the subject of the fascinating documentary Man On Wire, is proof enough.

At one point, one of his American accomplices comments that he didn't know if Petit was legitimate; he thought Petit was a con man, and why blame him for such a thought? Petit was and is charismatic beyond belief, even when talking about an event over thirty years old. Man On Wire, directed by James Marsh, is a simple film: all revolves around this singular event. We know little about Petit before he found his love of tightrope walking and nothing of what happened to him short of fleeting fame occurring after the fated walk in August 1974, hours before Nixon resigned as president.

What makes this film work so well is the amount of suspense, especially in the final half hour. In this case, though we are told at the beginning that Petit was successful, it's not the same as watching a film about the Titanic sink or Pearl Harbor fall. Phillippe Petit is not a well-known figure in this time, especially after the events of September 11, 2001. Marsh deserves credit for never mentioning that day or what happened afterward. It's better that this man's accomplishment, small though it may seem, remains frozen in time, untouched by the future, untouched by the past.

There's not much to say about this film that's not already been said. It's moving, it's exciting, it's breathtaking. See it.

Three and a half stars out of four