Man On Wire

On 7 August, 1974, Frenchman Philippe Petit spent 45 minutes walking on a high wire between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Centre. Though he was arrested on completion, all charges were dropped and he quickly became celebrated throughout the city. Using a beautifully edited combination of talking heads, reconstruction and archive footage, James Marsh’s riveting documentary tells the story of the walk, from its build up through the feat itself to the aftermath. His two biggest assets are having access to the many hours of home cinema footage taken during the planning stages by Petit and his friends, and the unbridled energy and enthusiasm of the man himself as he recounts his triumph. While the dramatised scenes occasionally take you out of the story, and the other participants can’t hope to compete with Petit in terms of interest, Man On Wire is still a thoroughly absorbing account that even ends up being unexpectedly moving. [Paul Greenwood]