Man on Wire

This is the crazy story of Philippe Petit, a tightrope walker who crossed a wire between the Twin Towers while they were still being constructed in 1974. The documentary includes archive film of Petit preparing for the event, as well as current interview footage with Petit and his crew. It’s cool that Petit and company had the foresight to film those preparations, because they really contribute to the film. I lived a half-hour from the city when I was a kid, and hearing about this guy walking between the towers blew my mind. I had always known about this stunt (I saw Petit perform in a circus when I was a kid), but I didn’t know he actually crossed multiple times during the stunt, taunted police and danced and knelt on the wire. There have been a lot of stunts performed over the years, but I have to regard this as the most amazing. The film is expertly constructed—one of the year’s best documentaries.