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From Amazon.co.uk
Native New Yorkers know to expect the unexpected, but who among them could've predicted that a man would stroll between the towers of the World Trade Center? French high-wire walker Philippe Petit did just that on August 7th, 1974. Petit’s success may come as a foregone conclusion, but British filmmaker James Marsh’s pulse-pounding documentary still plays more like a thriller than a non-fiction entry--in fact, it puts most thrillers to shame. Marsh (Wisconsin Death Trip, The King) starts by looking at Petit's previous stunts. First, he took on Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral, then Sydney's Harbour Bridge before honing in on the not-yet-completed WTC. The planning took years, and the prescient Petit filmed his meetings with accomplices in France and America. Marsh smoothly integrates this material with stylized re-enactments and new interviews in which participants emerge from the shadows as if to reveal deep, dark secrets which, in a way, they do, since Petit's plan was illegal, "but not wicked or mean." The director documents every step they took to circumvent security, protocol, and physics as if re-creating a classic Jules Dassin or Jean-Pierre Melville caper. Though still photographs capture the feat rather than video, the resulting images will surely blow as many minds now as they did in the 1970s when splashed all over the media. Not only did Petit walk, he danced and even lay down on the cable strung between the skyscrapers. Based on his 2002 memoir, Man on Wire defines the adjective "awe-inspiring." --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product Description
Philippe PetitDirector: James Marsh
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By E. Slater
Format:DVD
I had seen this in the cinema when it was released and thought it was amazing. Whilst it got rave reviews, unfortunately it was only on in cinemas for a very limited time - one night only in the case of most places.....such a shame as it is truly fantastic. It tells the story of how Philippe Petit walked between the Twin Towers in New York - something which is all the more poignant now that they are no longer there. It is part documentary, with all the people involved in the planning and execution of this insane and incredible feat telling their story. There is also a dramatic reconstruction of how the team were able to get into the Towers and footage of Philippe practicing for this. It also includes footage of his walks between other towers - Notre Dame in Paris and Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia and an interview with the man himself.
In the wide screen of the cinema, it was both dramatic and exciting and watching it again on DVD was still an "edge of your seat" experience.
In the wide screen of the cinema, it was both dramatic and exciting and watching it again on DVD was still an "edge of your seat" experience.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Philippe Petit, a Frenchman high-wire walker was unknown to most people until one summer morning in 1974 he walked across the twin towers on a high-wire. A feat that took him months of secret preparations to accomplish and landed him in prison - outastanding feats always seem to provoke the small-minded. The British documentarist James Marsh, after a long but always as exciting, introduction on Petit's previous feats (walking on a high-wire across Notre Dame Casthedral in Paris and later on Sidney's Harbor Bridge in Australia), relates Petit's twin towers feat like a "Rififi" type of thriller, presenting in detail all the aspects of the preparation and editing his material tightly and with a rythm that catches your breath. Here is a suspenful, some times humorous, drama that at the same time moves you to the point of crying. What the film is finally about is that of a courageous man who, against all logic, walks up and down on a wire, high up in the sky, sitting and relaxing in-between, almost dancing, like a Fred Astaire of the skies, for more than 45 minutes, challenging man, nature and the whole universe, making you feel that you can do anynthing you want as long as you really believe in it! But what is still more exciting is the beauty of it all, of those wonderful images of that man up there, alone and happy, enjoying his Sky Odyssey. A film worthy of many Oscars!!!
Ninos Mikelides
Ninos Mikelides
64 of 70 people found the following review helpful
By Demob Happy
Format:DVD
`Man On Wire' is a documentary chronicling Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers. A meticulously planned and highly illegal stunt, which involved years of clandestine plotting and finally a generous amount of good luck, director James Marsh claims the story struck him as "a heist movie", and it is evident in the telling. More exciting than all the `Ocean's' films put together, `Man On Wire' is the latest addition to the decade's role call of brilliant documentaries that have revolutionalised the form. From 'Fog of War', `Capturing the Friedmans', `Touching the Void', `Etre et Avoir', and `Grizzly Man', the noughties is replete with fine documentaries that have treated their subjects with a dynamism and imagination that in many cases belies the relative paucity of materials at their filmmakers' disposal. `Man on Wire' most closely resembles `Touching the Void' in that it mixes talking head accounts of real life events with largely reconstructed footage to create a gripping and engaging film. `Man on Wire' even uses fragmented narrative techniques from cinema to stimulate it structurally, and is scored beautifully by Michael Nyman.
Fundamentally, `Man on Wire' succeeds in communicating the transcendent beauty of the highwire act, and depicts Petit's mission as a great artistic - albeit meglomaniacal - vision. The depth of belief in this vision - from the man himself but equally from his co-conspirators, who had to invest enormous emotional and legal risks to help him - is stunningly justified in the scarce photographic footage of the event.... Read more ›
Fundamentally, `Man on Wire' succeeds in communicating the transcendent beauty of the highwire act, and depicts Petit's mission as a great artistic - albeit meglomaniacal - vision. The depth of belief in this vision - from the man himself but equally from his co-conspirators, who had to invest enormous emotional and legal risks to help him - is stunningly justified in the scarce photographic footage of the event.... Read more ›
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
When a documentary beats Slumdog Millionaire, Hunger, Mama Mia and In Bruges to the Outstanding British Film BAFTA you become very happy when it's just dropped through the letterbox. Simon Chinn and James Marsh's film tells the story (of which I was completely unaware) of Phillipe Petit's daring and illegal high-wire walk between the World Trade Centre's twin towers in New York in 1974. The mixture of interview, reconstruction and archive footage immediately brings to mind the superb Touching The Void (itself a BAFTA winner) and this film succeeds in much the same way; building tension, slowly revealing character and showing the devastating impact of a singular event on the lives of those involved.
The film drops you straight into the middle of the action as the various players make their way to the twin towers. Some have criminal sounding names like 'The Australian' or AKA's but we know that this is 'the artistic crime of the century', one with no victims, only leaving those who witnessed it touched by something special. At the centre, Petit is a clownish figure, unsurprising given his street-performer background, looking as a young man a little like Malcolm McDowell but his face now is softened and comical as he takes obvious pleasure from telling the story. This is contrasted with the obvious distress caused to those nearest and dearest to him. His girlfriend talks with great honesty about how this singular man completely dominated her life and conveys even today the sheer magic of being a spectator to his stunts. His closest friend Jean Louis Blondeau is touchingly emotional, conveying more than anyone else the culpability his accomplices felt in an event that could very well of course ended in death.... Read more ›
The film drops you straight into the middle of the action as the various players make their way to the twin towers. Some have criminal sounding names like 'The Australian' or AKA's but we know that this is 'the artistic crime of the century', one with no victims, only leaving those who witnessed it touched by something special. At the centre, Petit is a clownish figure, unsurprising given his street-performer background, looking as a young man a little like Malcolm McDowell but his face now is softened and comical as he takes obvious pleasure from telling the story. This is contrasted with the obvious distress caused to those nearest and dearest to him. His girlfriend talks with great honesty about how this singular man completely dominated her life and conveys even today the sheer magic of being a spectator to his stunts. His closest friend Jean Louis Blondeau is touchingly emotional, conveying more than anyone else the culpability his accomplices felt in an event that could very well of course ended in death.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Documentary
Academy Award winning story of Philippe Petit who back in 1974 , after 6 and half years of planning, smuggled a steel tite-rope cable and all the rigging to the roof of the World... Read more
Published 4 months ago by P. Gutierrez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wired Man
The thing that stays most with you is the music, oddly. It emphasises the poignancy of the sadly unresolved relationships of the major characters. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mario
5.0 out of 5 stars
great film
fantastic film documentary of the thrilling life of this amazing mad man ( in a good sense) who dared to break through with his great will power and made his dream come through!!!!
Published 11 months ago by marco
4.0 out of 5 stars
This man has nerves of steel
This is something special. It works well as a documentary and keeps the viewer engaged all the way through. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Harry Cruickshank
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wire walking
I have seen this video on TV and found it fascinating. Unfortunately I had missed a part of the beginning so I was keen to see the entire video. Also I wanted to see it in Blu-ray. Read more
Published 17 months ago by frankhx
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly powerful stuff
This is a brilliantly made documentary/reconstruction of how Phillippe Petit managed to do a tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Read more
Published 20 months ago by R Bain
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review Man on Wire
A great documentary of a story told in a logical way with superb archive footage from the period. The music score is outstanding.
Published 21 months ago by Joe
5.0 out of 5 stars
Man on Wire - a magical script for life
I've never been a huge documentary film devotee. I could never work up the same enthusiasm that I feel for a good fiction feature movie. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Jacqueline
5.0 out of 5 stars
Man on Wire
I remember seeing this on TV some time ago and was delighted to find it on Amazon - it is absolutely brilliant, I could watch it over and over again! Read more
Published 22 months ago by Penelope Snow
5.0 out of 5 stars
An extraordinarily powerful documentary
Yes, there is someone crazier than the building-climbing "Spiderman," and his name is Phillippe Petit, who will forever be known for his death-defying tightrope walk between the... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2011 by Daniel Jolley
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