Man on Wire – Der Drahtseilakt (2008)

Man on Wire – Der Drahtseilakt: Directed by James Marsh. With Philippe Petit, Jean François Heckel, Jean-Louis Blondeau, Annie Allix. A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City’s World Trade Center’s twin towers in 1974, what some consider, “the artistic crime of the century”.

“Oh dear. Iu0026#39;m in the minority on this one, but Man on Wire did very little for me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePerhaps itu0026#39;s down to the unlikable Philippe Petit himself, who is surprisingly hard to root for. I didnu0026#39;t care for his personality and the fact that he had so much of it just exacerbated my feelings.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor a 90-minute documentary thereu0026#39;s remarkably little actual information. My general knowledge of the incident is still almost non-existent and I only watched it last night! Too much time is spent on Petitu0026#39;s other exploits and the WTC walk – supposedly the focus of the film – comes perilously close to being glossed over. The basic, essential facts of the operation are recounted in an incidental manner and are buried under mumbling voices with heavy French accents.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat Petit did was undeniably spectacular – and at its best the film captures that well, with the wire walk sequence being thrilling – and Iu0026#39;m tempted to say itu0026#39;s a shame such a feat received such a poor documentary treatment, but itu0026#39;s an Oscar winner, and an overwhelming success with critics and audiences alike, so Iu0026#39;ll accept that Iu0026#39;m just one of the few for whom it didnu0026#39;t work.”