NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Man on Wire chronicles Philippe Petit’s illegal 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center through interviews with those involved in the event about the years leading up to its execution.

Two things intrigue in a movie that would better have been presented as a half hour television documentary, than a 90 minute feature film. First, despite being produced in 2007, no mention what so ever is made of 9/11. Ignoring this elephant was a shrewd and I think successful move. We the audience fill in the blanks in two striking cases. Early in the film during footage of the World Trade Towers’ foundation being built it’s difficult not to think about the hole that is now ground zero. Late in the film there appears a photograph of Philippe balanced on his wire. An airplane frozen in the background looks as if its about to hit one of the towers.

Just as great writing requires talent to tell only so much of the story, so too, successful film direction involves holding back enough information to stimulate involvement and collaboration by the audience.

Naturally one wonders what Phillipe and his colleagues must think about the disappearance of the Twin Towers; perhaps it makes their accomplishment that much more dream like. But, bringing 9/11 into the mix would, I think have diverted attention away from an incredible feat. As such it was wise to leave it out. As director James Marsh put it: Philippe Petit’s act was "incredibly beautiful" and it "would be unfair and wrong to infect his story with any mention, discussion or imagery of the Towers being destroyed."^[4]

The music by Michael Nyman was evocative. Complex and engaging. The story-telling by participants in the ‘heist’ was at times a bit contrived and, again, would have been more effective had the film be been limited to a half an hour or 45 minutes. Nonetheless, scenes with Philippe on the wire between the towers are as chilling as they are mesmerizing, and make this ‘rivetting’ movie worth attending.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 9:07 AM and is filed under Nigel Beale Reviews, etc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.