(2008, b/w and color) An extraordinary film about an extraordinary man performing an extraordinary feat from director James Marsh, based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, with music by Michael Nyman and J. Ralph. Self-taught tightrope walker Philippe Petit, having a perfect sense of balance and concentration, daring the impossible, danced at the top of the world, walking across a cable stretched between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

On the morning of August 7th, 1974, in a mist with a light breeze, 450 meters above the Manhattan streets, Philippe stepped onto the wire his co-conspirators and he had strung during the night across the 200 feet separating the towers. Of the void "framed by death," Philippe remembers thinking: "If I die, what a beautiful death, to die in the exercise of your passion." Looking up from below Annie Allix, Philippe's inseparable companion from the outset of his having the dream of doing the impossible, who'd supported and encouraged him, tells Marsh that Philippe looked "like he was walking on a cloud."

"Magical … profound," says Jim Moore on camera, an American in on the "really fun adventure." Recalling the hope and joy and madness of the endeavor overwhelms Jean-Louis Blondeau's composure, Philippe's childhood friend who had charge of the rigging. Two others, David aka "Donald," a musician, and Alan aka "Albert," at one point regarded as unreliable team members, helped pull off the magnificent and mysterious marvel.

Asked afterward why he'd done it, Philippe replied: "There is no why." Another team member, an Australian, Mark Lewis, worried about the unforeseen; Jean-François Heckel, a French accomplice, was deported for his participation. For 45 minutes Philippe performed his show for the crowd below, at one point kneeling on the wire to salute them, before finally agreeing to an end of his defiance of the cops, who threatened to use a helicopter to pluck him off the wire.

This dramatic, suspenseful documentary traces from the moment Philippe became inspired (while waiting in a dentist office for relief from a toothache, the then 17-year-old read and cut out an article about the not-yet-constructed WTC in New York, racing home excitedly on his unicycle, leaving for another day the odontalgia) until the present (juxtaposing 9/11's Ground Zero with photos of Philippe as a child), interviewing all of the principal players, for a full account of how they planned, prepared, and finally pulled off the stunt.

His first illegal, daredevil waltz across a wire occurred between the towers of Notre Dame de Paris, wonderfully amazing, while a mass took place inside the cathedral, followed by a similar spectacle across the twin supports of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in view of the opera house in June 1973. As he was being cuffed by the cops, he snatched the watch from an officer's wrist.

Video footage of the construction of the Twin Towers accompanies that of the months of organizing, training, and scouting for the mission. Posing as journalists, Mark and Philippe received permission from Guy Tozzoli of the WTC Association to take photographs from the roofs; an inside man, Barry Greenhouse, an assistant director of research with an office on the highest floor, remembering having seen Philippe as a busker in Paris juggling, assisted in obtaining fake ID cards and other documentation in order for the team to get inside the buildings and nearly a ton of equipment to the top of the towers.

Disguised in business suits to look like office workers, the four men reached the unfinished top floors in the evening, waited patiently beneath canvas tarps for guards to leave before setting themselves to the arduous task of anchoring and rigging the cable, stabilizing it, having taken into account the sway from the wind and the elasticity of the buildings as well as a slight torsion on the wire. They employed a bow and arrow to span the distance with a monofilament fishing line, followed by a nylon rope and finally the cable itself drawn across. With the dawn they hadn't finished and feared failure.

Annie says the entire plot was "like a bank robbery" to Philippe, who spent hours beforehand watching Hollywood cinemas of capers. Charging the wirewalker with trespassing and disorderly conduct, the authorities dropped the complaints in exchange for Philippe's agreeing to TV interviews and charitable performances.

Living "life on the edge as a true challenge," the famous artiste of the air expresses his belief that such magnificent structures as were the Twin Towers appealed to him to be mastered the way "a poet conquers beautiful stages."

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .