Review of Man on Wire (2008) by Tom B — 31 May 2010

By now you have probably noticed that the most interesting and creative movies of the last few years have included a lot more documentaries than such a list might usually comprise. It's been quite a while since the tide has risen and it just keeps coming in. Man on Wire keeps the momentum moving.

The poster tells you most of what you need to know. Some french guy, never known for anything else, climbed to the top of the World Trade Center towers in 1974, rigged a circus highwire, and walked back and forth between the buildings. That's a span of 200 feet, which is enough to kill you, but that's the distance between the _buildings_. The distance between this crazy fool and the _ground_ was more like 1400 feet.

Yeah, he was really good at wirewalking. He had pulled tons of publicity-ish stunts like this before. He practiced all the time, knew the technical logistics of rigging really well (not as an engineer, as a technician), and had unbelievable natural balance and coordination to spare. There was no money in this for him, he did it for the poetry of the moment, is what he seems to be saying in the modern-day interviews. "Poetry of the moment" seems to be French for "attention.".

Seriously--if he had become the greatest gymnastics coach in all of France, would a documentary of his life be widely released as a feature film? No. No it would not. So: Crazy fool 1, unsuspecting public, no score.

He really is an interesting guy, most articulate in English, and he assembled quite a crew of helpers to get his wires in place that day. Virtually all of them show up for interviews on every subject conceivably related to that day, and speak fairly freely.

The filmmakers cut everything together beautifully. Even seeing him successfully out on the wire before you even open the box, you find yourself caught in the suspense of all the skullduggery required to get up there--unsurprisingly, they didn't exactly have a permit. The practice, the reconnaissance missions, the all-night roping and knotting session required to set up, it all flows together like a thriller. And then, if you're as acrophobic as I am, you're rewarded at the end with a huge wave of dizziness, even watching through a slit between your fingers. Great movie. Crazy mixed-up times.