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Meera Atkinson  Man on Wire is a breathtaking documentary about Phillippe Petit’s celebrated tightrope walk between the World Trade Centre’s twin towers in 1974. It skilfully recreates the story of how Petit and his supporters bridged the distance between a mad dream and its seemingly impossible realisation.
Director: James Marsh
Starring: Phillippe Petit, Annie Allix, Jean-Louis Blondeau
Rated: PG Man on Wire is astonishing and triumphant both in the story it tells and in its telling. In tackling Petit’s obsession with walking a rope between the twin towers director James Marsh captures all the daring and passion that drove Petit to what has been referred to as ‘the artistic crime of the century’. Using a combination of effective re-enactments, lively and insightful interviews, and old footage, Marsh weaves together a thrilling and multilayered story about the power of the human spirit and art. Even though it’s clear Petit has miraculously lived to tell the tale of his awe-inspiring performance the suspense while watching the planning and execution of the walk doesn’t let up. The twists and turns of the unfolding endeavour are as riveting as the final act itself. However, ‘walk’ hardly does justice to what Petit achieves on the rope. One of the police officers waiting for him at the end of the rope said he “danced”, which is a far better description. The footage of Petit on the wire is one of an artist in ecstasy, a provocateur at play, a man lost in giving the world a moment of beauty, profundity and pleasure. Petit himself is an incredible character capable of inspiring others to share his outrageous and illegal vision. So, too, is the supporting cast. There is devoted girlfriend Annie; best friend, Jean-Louis Blondeau, who was critical to the success of the walk; and WTC insider Barry Greenhouse, among others.  It is obvious these people, through their relationship to Petit, were changed by the momentous event that catapulted Petit to world fame. What Petit and his crew accomplished is unthinkable. It’s also a manifestation of Goethe’s assertion that “boldness has genius, power and magic in it”. Petit may have been incomprehensively bold but he wasn’t stupid or deluded. He was well aware of the risk he was taking and that the walk could be his last. At one point in the film the older Petit speaks to the shadow of death that accompanied him and his friends from conception to completion. “If I die, what a beautiful death — to die in the exercise of your passion.” Man on Wire salutes this call to follow one’s bliss, as Joseph Campbell put it, and in honouring Petit James Marsh also follows his bliss to a stunning and successful end.
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