I've never watched a movie before that made my hands and feet simultaneously sweat. Man on Wire also made me cry. Sweat, tears, that's a lot of bodily functions for one movie.The pictures atop the World Trade Center (WTC) are captivating. Footage of the massive buildings going up are totally awesome. The whole story is really awe-inspiring, from the creative process of the Frenchman Phillipe Petit and his friends figuring out how to get the wire across the 140-foot gap between the WTC to accessing the roof with guards manning the then unoccupied top floors.
And to know that he was up there on the tightrope for 45 minutes, going back and forth 8 times, doing tricks like lying down and kneeling.... all I can think is unbeliavable as my hands start to sweat a little even now.
The walk between the towers happened on August 7th, 1974, on my mom's 20th birthday. The movie never goes into 9/11 but that makes it all the more thought provoking. Times were different then, even though one of the Frenchmen called America at that time, a litigious nation. He, one of Petit's friends, was expelled from the country, while Petit comparatively was let off with the sole punishment of entertaining American crowds.
Man on Wire is an amazing documentary with piano music at all the right times. The only thing I desired was some kind of closure at the end. There have been 34 years since the event took place, after all.
