Man on Wire
Good morning, magic buds. This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch an award-winning film about French tight rope walker, Philippe Petit. I remembered seeing him receive an Oscar for the documentary earlier in the year and made a mental note to try to catch the film when it became available for rental at my local Blockbuster store.
Man on Wire chronicles Petit's life and focuses on his historic crossing of a tight rope wire strung between New York City's World Trade Towers in 1974. It is a remarkable film with Petit and his original cohorts unfolding the story from the inception of the idea to the final implementation that historic day.
I remember hearing about Petit occasionally in Central Park one summer when some friends and I tried our hand at street performances in front of the Central Park Zoo. He was a legendary figure, almost ghost-like. You would hear people in the crowds whispering stories about watching Petit's amazing street performances. I never saw him live, but I followed the little stories I heard, always trying to find him. Like other street legends such as Lou Lancaster, it was always a challenge to find the really good talent in the Park. You almost had to stumble upon them by accident, and when you did, there was never any doubt you were witnessing genius at work.
The film is shot in a combination of black and white and color, showing Petit as a youth in France, teaching himself circus arts including magic. Practicing on some land out in the country, he set up a long wire to practice his incredible ballet-like walk on.
Unlike the famous wire-walking family, The Flying Wallendas, Petit was less focused on performing wildly dangerous circus stunts then he was on wire-walking as an art form. He was, in all appearances, simply out for a morning stroll. The only differences was he was balanced precariously in a thin wire high up in the air.
Place was always as important as the Walk. One of his first well known public appearances was walking across the towers of Notre Dame in Paris. High up in the air he pranced across the wire he and his friends had secretly set-up in the dark of night. Inside, church services continued as he seemed to walk on air above them. Very poetic and beautiful.
But the real dream was to walk across the Twin Towers. When he heard about the plans to build the tallest twin buildings in the world, he knew then and there that one day he would cross it. After years of practicing in the wide open fields in rural areas of France, plans were put into place to fly to NYC and enter the buildings by day in disguise as delivery people, to bring the materials and people hidden in rolling carts up to the roof, and then to set things up in the dead of night.
For months they practiced and pondered how best to complete their mission. In the end, it was decided there would be two teams, and one would shoot an arrow across from the roof of one tower to the other. Fishing line would be attached to the arrow and once the arrow was caught by the team on the opposite tower, they would begin to feed gradually heavier string, then rope, and then finally wire until they had established the main wire and its additional security lines.
At time more like The Three Stooges and other times like the Mission: Impossible force, the team pulled it off and Petit began his initial crossing early the morning of August 7, 1974. As the crowds started gathering in the streets below, they marveled at the little Frenchman prancing in the air above them. As Petit laid down on the wire to stare up at the sky, floating among the clouds, he knew he had achieved the impossible.
While not magic in the classical sense, I enjoyed watching this film immensely and strongly recommend watching it with your kids or grandchildren. It takes that old "sense of wonder" to all new heights and proves that there is magic after all.
Until next time,
Steven
Man on Wire chronicles Petit's life and focuses on his historic crossing of a tight rope wire strung between New York City's World Trade Towers in 1974. It is a remarkable film with Petit and his original cohorts unfolding the story from the inception of the idea to the final implementation that historic day.
I remember hearing about Petit occasionally in Central Park one summer when some friends and I tried our hand at street performances in front of the Central Park Zoo. He was a legendary figure, almost ghost-like. You would hear people in the crowds whispering stories about watching Petit's amazing street performances. I never saw him live, but I followed the little stories I heard, always trying to find him. Like other street legends such as Lou Lancaster, it was always a challenge to find the really good talent in the Park. You almost had to stumble upon them by accident, and when you did, there was never any doubt you were witnessing genius at work.
The film is shot in a combination of black and white and color, showing Petit as a youth in France, teaching himself circus arts including magic. Practicing on some land out in the country, he set up a long wire to practice his incredible ballet-like walk on.
Unlike the famous wire-walking family, The Flying Wallendas, Petit was less focused on performing wildly dangerous circus stunts then he was on wire-walking as an art form. He was, in all appearances, simply out for a morning stroll. The only differences was he was balanced precariously in a thin wire high up in the air.
Place was always as important as the Walk. One of his first well known public appearances was walking across the towers of Notre Dame in Paris. High up in the air he pranced across the wire he and his friends had secretly set-up in the dark of night. Inside, church services continued as he seemed to walk on air above them. Very poetic and beautiful.
But the real dream was to walk across the Twin Towers. When he heard about the plans to build the tallest twin buildings in the world, he knew then and there that one day he would cross it. After years of practicing in the wide open fields in rural areas of France, plans were put into place to fly to NYC and enter the buildings by day in disguise as delivery people, to bring the materials and people hidden in rolling carts up to the roof, and then to set things up in the dead of night.
For months they practiced and pondered how best to complete their mission. In the end, it was decided there would be two teams, and one would shoot an arrow across from the roof of one tower to the other. Fishing line would be attached to the arrow and once the arrow was caught by the team on the opposite tower, they would begin to feed gradually heavier string, then rope, and then finally wire until they had established the main wire and its additional security lines.
At time more like The Three Stooges and other times like the Mission: Impossible force, the team pulled it off and Petit began his initial crossing early the morning of August 7, 1974. As the crowds started gathering in the streets below, they marveled at the little Frenchman prancing in the air above them. As Petit laid down on the wire to stare up at the sky, floating among the clouds, he knew he had achieved the impossible.
While not magic in the classical sense, I enjoyed watching this film immensely and strongly recommend watching it with your kids or grandchildren. It takes that old "sense of wonder" to all new heights and proves that there is magic after all.
Until next time,
Steven
posted by Steven at
8:24 AM
