Saturday 2 August 2008

Man on Wire

Yesterday afternoon Steve & I went to see Man on Wire, the story of Philippe Petit's spectacular tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in 1974. What an incredible man who, after seeing a diagram of the towers in a newspaper in a dentist's surgery, drew a line between them and determined that, when they were built, he would walk along that line.

It has been described as 'the artistic crime of the 20th century', Petit talks about it as a 'performance' and that is what it is, a ballet dance more than 1,300 feet above ground. Perched on that wire high above our heads, his face lit up with the sheer exhilaration of his achievement, he looked like an angel.

Although the film made no reference to the fate of the towers 27 years later, viewing footage of them under construction so soon after having seen them destroyed, was very moving.

For Steve's review see his man on wire.

PS In addition to being thoroughly entertained I did also add another word to my French vocabulary. 'Funambule' is the French for 'tightrope walker'.

3 comments:

  1. Dear Gai - hadn't heard about the film but will look into it, as it is something Bob and I would be terested in. I can imagine that you did find some parts of the film moving, given the content. And well done you for improving your French vocab into the bargain. I have only ever had 'schoolgirl' French, perhaps now retired I could find an improver's class. A

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  3. I'm not sure whether the film is on general release. We saw it at the Watershed which is a small independent cinema. However, if you can manage to track it down I would thoroughly recommend it.

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