When was the last time you sat down and watched a documentary that wasn't for a class assignment? (Discover Channel doesn't count) Wow, really? A long time? Well, dust off the ol' Netflix search box and take a break from binge-watching Dexter because the next thing you should be watching is a little doc called Man on Wire.
The movie follows the life of Philippe Petit, a French high-wire artist, and his journey towards his dream of high-wire walking across the World Trade Center in 1974. The film dives deep within the mindset of the tight-rope walking as well as conducting interview with him, his family, his friends, and even his colleagues.
Now, most of the time documentaries tend to follow the same general principles: show the people being interviewed, have their voice projected over images, show archival footage, and, on occasion, have a voice-actor fill in any gaps. This film does this, but in the best way possible. See, the story of how Petit was able to get a high-wire up on top of the World Trade Center had a very espionage and thriller vibe to it, so the logically thing to do was to presented it like so. Now, this would seem like a very difficult process to do in a documentary, but the filmmakers were able to grasp it with such skill that it was more engaging and thrilling than the last James Bond movies. They made the people interviewed the storytellers (unlike just being there for personal aesthetics), and with the use of fine editing, impressive archival footage, and the occasional dramatic reconstruction scenes (which, by the way, were the most realistic I've seen in any documentary), the story of Philippe Petit made this movie one of the best movies I've seen all year.
I give this movie:
10/10 for quality.
9/10 for watchability.
I hope you all enjoyed my review of Man On Wire.
Fond regards,
~Grant Dunderman
January 2014
Film Studies Period 10
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