Stars:
****
Rating: PG-13 for brief
nudity and mature themes
Run
Time: 1
hour, 40 minutes. In English and French with English subtitles
With
breathtaking harmony James Marsh balances tempo, humor and passion in the
re-telling of high-wire artist Philippe Petit’s stunning walk across New York’s
City’s Twin Towers.
From a
tender age Petit had a dream, the as-yet-unfinished World Trade Center Towers
galloping in his brain as the object of an unquenchable quest.
Tight-roping
across the gothic cathedral of Notre Dame wasn’t enough. Nor was Australia’s
Sydney Harbor Bridge. In the early 70s the cat-like Petit and a ragtag bunch of
friends set about a plan that would rock their world to the core; testing
cables, wires, and provocative schemes to string a tightrope between a pair of
impossibly monumental skyscrapers.
The group
dummied up fake invoices and ID cards, and with Lady Luck on their side got
themselves and their accoutrement to the top of the North and South Towers in
August of 1974. There Petit’s destiny is sealed.
With the
help of captivating interviews (Petit a stealthy pitchman), fresh re-creation
plus astonishing archival footage and photos Petit’s journey becomes an
emotional roller coaster, fraught with danger yet crackling with vitality.
The
physical feat itself is remarkable, almost 1,400 feet in the air and look Ma,
no net! The view from the top is a heart attack, death a single misstep away. Tension
flows from plan to execution to the inevitably poignant fallout.
The beauty
of this dazzling documentary isn’t limited to the exhilarating derring-do. It’s
in the harmony and lithe attitude of a cheerful (and dare I say egocentric?)
Frenchman so consumed by his own fate (“A castaway on the desert island of my
dreams”) that it exacts a huge toll on those who love and support him.
Marsh
doesn’t acknowledge the ultimate fate of the Towers and it’s hugely refreshing
to embrace the memories of their impact without negative connotation.
Outrageously
entertaining and perfectly profound.