Man on Wire (2008) - Oscar ® Winner!

"James Marsh's documentary raises the bar for the genre to skyscraper height.  Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
"...perfectly poised between artistry and audacity. It's beautiful.  Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
"As suspenseful as a full-blown thriller.  Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
"One of the most wildly entertaining docs of recent years.  Robert Koehler, Variety
"...the first film that plays on what could become a phenomenon of the new millennium: World Trade Center nostalgia.  William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Editor's Note James Marsh's dazzling, invigorating documentary MAN ON WIRE tells the story of a truly inspiring figure. In the early 1970s, a fiery young Frenchman named Philippe Petit wanted to shake up the world. When he saw the World Trade Center being built in New York City, he found his mission. Petit was a trained high wire walker, and his goal was to set up a wire between the two towers and give the world a show it could never have expected. As is often the case with these endeavors, the actual high-wire walking was the easiest part of the plan. For nearly seven years, Petit worked on the project, recruiting associates who supported him every step of the way. Finally, after eight months in New York, the day came when Petit and his cronies jumped into action. This wasn't easy. They had to find a way to sneak past security and make their way to the top of the towers with heavy equipment, at which point they had to battle the elements to install the wire. After many close scares, the time came for Petit to realize his dream--and the rest, as they say, is history. Marsh crafts MAN ON WIRE like a heist film, presenting rare and fascinating footage of the actual event alongside flawless reenactments and modern-day interviews with the participants. The result is an immersive, emotionally gratifying motion picture, made all the more stimulating by Michael Nyman's electrifying score.

	Michael Nyman - Composer
	Jonathan Hewes - Executive Producer
	Igor Martinovic - Director of Photography
	Philippe Petit - Subject
	J. Ralph - Additional Music/Songs
	Simon Chinn - Producer
	Philippe Petit - Source Writer
	James Marsh - Director

Film Comment
"[I]ts fantasy of an aesthetically driven city out of lockstep with financial or legal rationale strikes a chord..." 07/01/2008 73

Sight and Sound
"[E]nthralling....A film that will surely elicit gasps of wonder from its audiences....Marsh's film is as giddy and constantly breathtaking as the story it tells." 08/01/2008 p.70-71

Los Angeles Times
"James Marsh's brilliant documentary on a Frenchman's 1974 high-wire walk between the twin towers has the pace of a thriller and the human interest of a psychological drama." 08/08/2008

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he interviews reveal Petit's grand self-confidence -- it's hard not to succumb to his enthusiasm, courage and unremitting dedication to what he argues is a true artform. After watching the film, audiences might well agree with him." 09/01/2008 p.61

Premiere
"[A]n exploration of one man's idiosyncratic vision and a buddy-heist film....Entertaining: there's a tone of lighthearted mischievousness to the plotting and scheming of an illegal act that is essentially harmless..." 07/25/2008

Box Office
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The real strength of MAN ON WIRE is Petit, an incredibly lyrical storyteller....Even if they were not supplemented by often-entrancing archival images, the interviews with Petit would be enough to capture audience's attention." 08/01/2008 p.44

Rolling Stone
Ranked #10 in Rolling Stone's 'Movies Of The Year' -- "James Marsh's film isn't just the documentary of the year, it's a salute to human endeavor." 01/08/2008 p. 116

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Marsh tracks Philippe Petit and his team as they plan, rehearse and execute the sting; switching between dramatisation and interview, pacing the build-up like an intricate action-thriller." 01/01/2009 p.152

Entertainment Weekly
Included in Entertainment Weekly's 2008 Films Of The Year -- "[A] lyrical, wonder-filled documentary, anchored by Petit's own dramatic reminiscences..." 12/26/2008

ReelViews 8 of 10
Man on Wire is a fascinating time capsule: a combination of talking-head interviews, actual footage, and re-creations that evokes a kinder, gentler world and provides insight into one of the most audacious stunts of the 20th century. Pieced together with some of the rhythms and beats of a heist movie, James Marsh's examination of Philippe Petit's 1974 high wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center explores every aspect of the feat, from the detailed planning to the execution. Petit's action remains as head shakingly, jaw droppingly improbable today is it did on the morning of August 7, 1974...At the time when this documentary transpires, the World Trade Center was a relatively new complex. The Twin Towers were still in their infancy. They were big and bold, but not yet iconic. Many New Yorkers hated them: utilitarian, austere monuments to modern technology that reached to the sky and blocked out the sun...There is, of course, an elephant in the room. While Petit is Man on Wire's undisputed star, his co-stars are the towers. It's impossible to look at them and not think of their fate. 9/11 is not mentioned in the film (although it would have been interesting to hear Petit's feelings about the demise of the site of his greatest triumph), but the WTC is perhaps better known now for its end than anything that came before that. There are some eerie moments. A shot of the construction site from late 1966 or early 1967 is strikingly similar to images of Ground Zero after most of the debris had been removed, and one of the stills of Petit on the wire shows an airplane in the background. Ultimately, however, Man on Wire represents a remembrance of the Twin Towers that has nothing to do with horror, death, and destruction and of the man who accomplished something that few would even consider, let alone attempt. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
I am afraid of heights. Now you know. That is one reason I was helplessly engrossed in "Man on Wire," the story of how Philippe Petit crossed eight times on a tight-wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center on Aug. 7, 1974. Another reason is that the documentary, a hybrid of actual and restaged footage, is constructed like a first-rate thriller..."Man on Wire," directed by James Marsh ("Wisconsin Death Trip"), has access to all of Petit's film, video and photographs of the assault on the towers. But there is more than that. Ingeniously using actors and restaging events, Marsh fleshes out the story with scenes that could never have been filmed, such as the episode when Petit and a partner crouched motionless under tarps on a beam near the top floor as a security guard nosed around. Petit has gathered a motley crew, including a pot-addled musician and an executive who actually works in an office in one tower. He trains these amateurs on how to rig a high wire. Properly, he hopes...The installation of a wire between the two towers was as complicated as a bank heist. He and his friends scouted the terrain, obtained false ID cards, talked their way into a freight elevator reaching to the top -- above the level of the finished floors. Incredibly, they had to haul nearly a ton of equipment up there. You may have heard how they got the wire across, and how they guy-wired it, but if you don't know, I won't tell you...They did it, anyway. Their plan worked. And on the morning of that Aug. 7, Petit took the first crucial step that shifted his weight from the building to the wire, and stood above a drop of 1,350 feet...It was dangerous, foolhardy, glorious. His assistants feared they could be arrested for trespassing, manslaughter or assisting a suicide. Philippe Petit was arrested and eventually found guilty. The charge: Disturbing the peace. - Roger Ebert