Man on Wire is a very surprising documentary relating the surreal adventure of a man who decided to walk, or to use his own words, dance on top of the world.
Philippe Petit is a French wire walker whose thrill is to illegally perform on public buildings. After Notre Dame in Paris and the Harbour Bridge in Sidney, Philippe decides on the World Trade Center’s twin towers for his next coup.
Whilst the documentary relates the overall organization required by such an ambitious project, it does not miss to convey the poetic notion of a man of wire, of a funambule whose only reason to perform is to create pure beauty. The high quality of the Blu-Ray disc perfectly renders the amazing artistic performances and will even, sometimes, put you on the edge of vertigo.
Released seven years after 9/11, Man on Wire is one of the best tribute done to the towers. It reminds us of the beauty of the buildings which were, for a couple of years after construction, the highest skyscrapers in the world.
Man on Wire (2008), directed by James Marsh, is released on Blu-Ray by Icon Home Entertainment, certificate 12.
