Man On Wire

Man On Wire plays like an amazing work of fiction concocted by a borderline maniac. Perhaps not borderline, it plays like the work from a complete maniac.

For any of you that watched the Oscars last night, you may have noticed this won Best Documentary. And you may have also picked up on Philippe Petit running up on stage about 30 seconds after the acceptance speech started. Or how about him making the Oscar trophy bow to the audience? Or perhaps balancing Oscar on his chin? The man is certifiable!






Obviously this is a good one since it won the Oscar. But it isn’t the typical documentary in the fact that it won’t make you cry, won’t really make you think, or even move you to a somewhat extreme emotion. It did however make me laugh, and made me sit in amazement about how insane these people were. And at how ridiculous “security” was at the WTC.

In case you ignored the trailer, this is about Philippe’s lifelong quest to walk a wire between the Twin Towers. In 1974 it was simply insane, and it would be no less insane today.

I give this film 3 stars, only because the documentary didn’t completely immerse me in a topic that I care deeply for. That’s just my preference in documentaries, not a reflection on the work. It is well worth a watch, for nothing more than sheer amazement and a good amount of laughs.