Life is like walking on a tight rope
On August 7, 1974, a 24-year-old French high-wire artist named Philippe Petit committed one of the most astonishing performance stunts of the late 20th century: he strung a thin cable in between the two towers of the World Trade Center and not only walked across, from one building to another, but did a nerve-wracking series of knee-bends and acrobatic movements on the cable, some 1,350 feet above the ground, before turning himself in. This occurred to the consternation and chagrin of Port Authority policemen, who immediately arrested Petit for the act -- prompting many to dub Petit's stunt "the artistic crime of the century." James Marsh's documentary Man on Wire revisits and recounts this chain of events some 34 years after they occurred. James Marsh saw the film as something to give back to the city of New York as a New Yorker himself. Marsh explains in a private interview that Philippe Petit’s act was “incredibly beautiful.” A lot of planning and practice was put into the act, Philippe’s crew that were also from Paris and good friends of Philippe including his girlfriend put everything they had into his dream of walking that tight rope across the famous Twin Towers.
The film was shown at a very slow pace and had subtitles which might make people lose interest in the first five minutes. The music that was chosen to play in the background was in my mind not the right choice due to speed and pace. It was almost like they were leading up to best part of the documentary with suspenseful music the whole film. Petit’s lover was quickly faded out of the film towards the end. I believe there was more to Philippe’s love life that James Marsh decided to leave out of the film for some reason not stated. Petit’s lover saw the act almost as a bank robbery how everything played out. Philippe Petit...