John's Movie Musings

The French catch a lot of flack for a number of things. Traditionally, they're not known for their cajones. See? I had to use Spanish because there is no French equivalent. n'est-ce pas?

But there's one man in all of France who defied that stereotype: Philippe Petit. Back in the 70s, he made a habit of stringing trapeze wires across tall buildings. And then walking across it. Multiple times. Backwards. As you can see from the poster, his tour de force was the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. France should hang these posters all over the country with a caption, "He's from France, bitches."

Monsieur Petit is such an interesting character that I could have easily listened to him for several more documentaries. He has this charisma that really only a Frenchman could possess. His hands are very animated and every beat of his story is presented in a truly dramatic fashion.

As fascinating as I found his story, it turned out to be a very sad tale. He survives the walks in the sky(sorry, spoiler), but gives up so much in the process. I had wished they talked about 9/11 since the Towers were such a huge focus, the tragedy of them could mirror the personal tragedies in his life.

Man on Wire has so much going for it, the recommendation is easy. It's expected to be up for an Oscar this year, so we'll find out this week if it gets the nomination.

Grade: A