On the morning of Aug. 7, 1974, after months of preparation and years of dreaming, a French daredevil named Philippe Petit stepped into the sky above Lower Manhattan. For almost 45 minutes he ambled back and forth on a metal cable strung between the towers of the World Trade Center, a feat of illegal tightrope walking that, according to a New York Police Department sergeant who recounted Mr. Petit’s act of physical poetry in dry press-conference prose, would more aptly be described as dancing.
That’s A.O. Scott reviewing documentary film Man on Wire in the New York Times.
You would think that 90 minutes would be a long time to document a single tightrope walk, and you would be right. 70 minutes would have been ideal–still a long time, but a testament to how excellent a film it is.
Director James Marsh is very Errol Morris in his style, which I like.
Here is the wiki on wire walker Philippe Petit. And here is the preview from the promo page:
