2 reviews

I really enjoyed this film. It was one of those events that stuck in my mind when I was a boy, and I was glad that Philippe Petit finally got around to finishing his book, and that a film version has been made. It was very moving to see how the act had had such an emotional effect on those that witnessed it. The "bank heist" feeling to the film added greatly to the tension.

I only have one criticism - why were so many sections shown stretched from normal size to letterbox format across the screen, so that faces etc. appeared wider? It wasn't necessary to do this to alert the audience to the fact that they were "archive", that should've been obvious.

Oranj 13 Aug 2008

I sat in my seat as the credits rolled not knowing how to react to this film. It tells the story of Philippe Petit's high-wire walk between the Twin Towers, using contemporary documentary footage, reconstruction, and recent interviews with the protagonists.

Although the film is brief, it dragged slightly in the first fifty minutes. The director had decided that the focal point around which the back story should be told was the moment at which Petit and accomplices had to hide on the upper floors of the Towers, waiting for security guards to disperse for the night. It's easy to see why it was done this way - audience shares in the suspense felt by the protagonists, etc. - but the moment itself isn't particularly dramatic or interesting, especially as you know the eventual outcome.

Petit's act was a victimless crime, a gratuitous piece of bravery, and (if you insist) artistry. The shots of this man lying on a wire impossibly far off the ground and completely at ease are wonderful and have their own beauty. Perhaps the most moving aspect of the film is to see the effect the memory still has on the protagonists today, people for whom the memory is still so overwhelming that they can scarcely contain their emotions. It put me in mind of Le Grand Meaulnes, another great French tale of young people who peak early, and spend a lifetime trying to recapture the splendour of youth.

All in all, I didn't really know what to make of it. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Grumpy 4 Aug 2008