by Mikako

Created on: August 25, 2008   Last Updated: March 13, 2012

An inspiring documentary about the French funambulist Philippe Petit who tightrope walked between the tops of the twin towers just after the towers were constructed in 1974.

The event is told with the suspense of a bank robbery. The film closely follows the details of the plan: Each difficulty and challenge creates tension and drama as the collaborators express in turn their ardent optimism and sudden moments of realization that what Philippe was attempting was possibly life-taking, not to mention legally disastrous for all involved.

Though the viewer knows that the planned event will occur and that Philippe will survive it, what gives the story its driving momentum is the passion and precision with which Philippe pursues his dream in the face of a series of seemingly insurmountable challenges. His passion is encapsulated in these words: "It's impossible, that's sure. So, let's start working!"

The optimism is shared by his collaborators who believe that (in the words of Jean-Louis Blondeau, Philippe's chief collaborator): "If you want something, nothing is impossible." Each obstacle - and there were many - then becomes vicariously disheartening, as this optimism is tested time and again by an increasing variety of ways in which the whole thing could go wrong.

The film carries this drama smoothly as it alternates adroitly between present-day interviews (collaborators recount vivid memories), and historical re-enactments. The re-enactments are of a dreamy, silvery quality: the same atmosphere as the famous, actual photo of Philippe in the act - accentuating the preternatural (almost elvin) aura that Philippe possesses.

And it is perhaps this quality in Philippe that made him so captive to the original ideal and the potential that the World Trade Center symbolized when it was first built. Whatever you actually thought of the buildings' aesthetic in our current jaded age at the time of their destruction, the film is worth seeing on this merit alone.

What truly captivates and moves the viewer is not the fact that Philippe Petit did this incredulous act, however, it was the way in which he did it: Here is a man whose joy it is to do with poignant precision and spontaneous beauty the entrancing ideas that captivate his heart. He did not do it to prove anything to anybody least of all to himself; he knew he could do it; he knew he would do it, or that he had to do it. He was compelled rather by the idea of the towers before they were even constructed.

When we finally

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>