Man on Wire

Man on Wire is a 2008 documentary directed by James Marsh. The documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's high-wire walks, his most astounding being the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It won Best Documentary, and for good reason. The film is set up with interviews of those who participated in helping to get Philippe to high-wire walk the Twin Towers, as well as actual footage and still photographs that helped prepare for the event and reenactments.
High-wire walking the Twin Towers was Philippe's dream, a dream that formed when he was seventeen and at the dentist. He was reading about the proposed project of the Twin Towers in a magazine when he saw the drawings of the proposed project, both of which were not yet built. He ripped out the picture and left the dentist still in pain. He became infatuated with the Twin Towers, collecting articles wherever he could. He just had to walk across it. It drove him. It became his dream.
Throughout the documentary through interviews with Philippe and his friends and acquaintances, it's easy to see that he was very passionate and very determined. Philippe was a self-taught wire walker, and with his self-taught skill he walked the Notre Dame Cathedral and Sydney Harbor Bridge before finally tackling the famous Twin Towers. He thought that if he died it would be a beautiful death, to die in the exercise of his passion. He was indeed very passionate.
It seemed as if Philippe was doing it not only for his passion but as a test, to see if he could get away with it. After getting caught wire-walking the Sydney Harbor Bridge he pick-pocketed a policeman's watch just because he could. I think thrill was also a major part of why Philippe did what he did, he loved it, but he also got a thrill from it.
This film is very artistically put-together. The interviews of Philippe's collaborators with different accents and speaking different languages, along with the reenactments, and still shots and footage make it easy to get lost in the story, their story. Everyone had a different perspective of what was happening, or how things were going to go down and its an amazing feat that Philippe got to make his dream a reality that day. With so many people, so many things could've gone wrong but they didn't. Philippe was able to high wire-walk the Twin Towers, a dream he's had since he was seventeen years old. That is unbelievable!
Overall, I am thoroughly enjoying this film, it's artistic, informative, and cultural. What's not to like?