© 2008, 94 minutes
Want to watch something really, really cool? Rent the documentary Man on Wire. It is flat-out, awe-inspiringly amazing.
Did you even know this happened? In August of 1974, the day before Nixon resigned from the presidency, French wirewalker Philippe Petit walked a 1-inch metal line illegally rigged under cover of night some 150 feet between the two almost-finished towers at the World Trade Center. For an hour. Over 1,300 feet above the streets. He even laid down at the midway point between the towers.
The movie details Petit’s obsession with the towers and the intricate plans and subterfuge he and his accomplices enacted to bring his dream to fruition. Photographs. Small-scale detail models of the towers. Impersonating French journalists and interviewing workers at the top of the towers. Business and construction worker disguises. Archery, even. You know he pulled it off – you see film and pictures of the event. But – how did he do it? With convincing and quite entertaining flashback re-enactments, interviews, and footage of the actual walk, you find out.
To me, this man Philippe Petit is absolutely, one-hundred-percent certifiably nuts. However, there is something undeniably inspiring and charismatic about the man. He does something I could never, ever do; indeed, it is his all-consuming passion. Ah – there’s the key – the pure electrifying power of the magnificent obsession! Now, I’m not scared of heights, but there is something about imagining myself on that wire that actually makes me freeze up with fear. As detailed in the documentary, the high winds between the towers move the wire side-by-side and, since the towers themselves sway in the winds, the wire goes up and down. As Petit talks about the glorious death that could be had, should it come to that, you absolutely believe he absolutely believes what he’s saying.
My question to you: I don’t expect you to walk a wire, but let’s say one of those rescue winches and harness was set up between the towers. How much would you have to be paid to take that journey? $10,000? $50,000? $100,000? Think about it. You’d be safe, and it would only last two or three minutes. What’s the minimum amount of money you’d accept to do it? After some debate between ourselves, I settled on a cool million, while the wife stood firm on ten million as her basement-level starting point.
Philippe Petit spent large sums of his own money to do it for the simple, zen experience of doing it.
The combination of the thrill of walking a wire a thousand feet above the ground, the crazy inspiration and awe that this man Petit brings, and the bittersweet memories of the Twin Towers … I don’t see how anyone can watch this and not come away moved in no small way.
Grade: A+
Based on Petit’s book To Reach the Clouds, which I’ll pick up eventually in my travels.
Want to watch something really, really cool? Rent the documentary Man on Wire. It is flat-out, awe-inspiringly amazing.
Did you even know this happened? In August of 1974, the day before Nixon resigned from the presidency, French wirewalker Philippe Petit walked a 1-inch metal line illegally rigged under cover of night some 150 feet between the two almost-finished towers at the World Trade Center. For an hour. Over 1,300 feet above the streets. He even laid down at the midway point between the towers.
The movie details Petit’s obsession with the towers and the intricate plans and subterfuge he and his accomplices enacted to bring his dream to fruition. Photographs. Small-scale detail models of the towers. Impersonating French journalists and interviewing workers at the top of the towers. Business and construction worker disguises. Archery, even. You know he pulled it off – you see film and pictures of the event. But – how did he do it? With convincing and quite entertaining flashback re-enactments, interviews, and footage of the actual walk, you find out.
To me, this man Philippe Petit is absolutely, one-hundred-percent certifiably nuts. However, there is something undeniably inspiring and charismatic about the man. He does something I could never, ever do; indeed, it is his all-consuming passion. Ah – there’s the key – the pure electrifying power of the magnificent obsession! Now, I’m not scared of heights, but there is something about imagining myself on that wire that actually makes me freeze up with fear. As detailed in the documentary, the high winds between the towers move the wire side-by-side and, since the towers themselves sway in the winds, the wire goes up and down. As Petit talks about the glorious death that could be had, should it come to that, you absolutely believe he absolutely believes what he’s saying.
My question to you: I don’t expect you to walk a wire, but let’s say one of those rescue winches and harness was set up between the towers. How much would you have to be paid to take that journey? $10,000? $50,000? $100,000? Think about it. You’d be safe, and it would only last two or three minutes. What’s the minimum amount of money you’d accept to do it? After some debate between ourselves, I settled on a cool million, while the wife stood firm on ten million as her basement-level starting point.
Philippe Petit spent large sums of his own money to do it for the simple, zen experience of doing it.
The combination of the thrill of walking a wire a thousand feet above the ground, the crazy inspiration and awe that this man Petit brings, and the bittersweet memories of the Twin Towers … I don’t see how anyone can watch this and not come away moved in no small way.
Grade: A+
Based on Petit’s book To Reach the Clouds, which I’ll pick up eventually in my travels.
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