This absolutely fascinating documentary is the story of one nutty Frenchman named Phillipe Petit. Back in the early 1970's, Petit was a young circus performer/wire walker/complete crackpot who had a dream, and that dream was to tightrope between the World Trade Center. How he got to finally do it is a story in itself and listening to the man tell it is one of the more exciting things one can do. I could honestly hear him speak for hours on end and not be bored for a second. Yet we don't just get to hear him speak. Thankfully Phillipe and his team recorded hours of footage of their exploits back in the day, including him tightroping across Notre Dame and over (yes, over) the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The big prize however was the tallest buildings on earth (still uncompleted at the time). So he assembled a crack team of people and they set to work. The rest is history and all I'll say is that, despite being comfortably rooted on terra firma and in the sanctity of my house, my stomach turned more times than I can remember.
However, what I love most about this film is how moving the whole thing is. Call me a sap, but listening to these people talk about their experiences on these adventures just reminds me of how romantic everything can be if you look at it the right way. Of course, it helps that they are all French (for the most part), but there are so many underlying themes to this story that it resonates on a deeper level than just some madman performing stunts. The end result is a quite beautiful experience.
"Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to not refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge - and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope." (Phillipe Petit)
Peace,
JB
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