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Reactions to Man on Wire

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Damn. If I had the talent to walk on wire/cable at even 10 floors above ground level, I wouldn’t be here composing this post right now.

Philippe Petit is probably one of those guys where you just don’t have the correct adjective to describe him. Crazy? Brave? Idiotic? Heroic? To perfectly plot this whole event, and not get caught is definitely an incredible feat. I mean, he wasn’t at the 10th floor, the 20th floor, but the 110th floor. What could’ve possibly been going through his mind?

What I probably most liked about the documentary was the fact that it seemed to made me feel like I was in the moment, especially when they were describing how they almost got caught and stuff. If Petit’s timing was not correct, August 7th, 1974 might’ve just been another ordinary day for all of us, and the prisons might just have an extra guy in there.

However, in exchange for his fame and glory, Petit lost his friends, lost the love of his life, lost everything he had had before August 7th, all because of the 45 mins on the top of the World Trade Center towers. I mean, I don’t know if that’s worth it.

~Christopher Chong

Just watched Man On Wire….

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..and all I have to say is: Wow. Just wow. That movie was absolutely brilliant. From beginning to end, “Man On Wire” held my attention. I was absolutely smitten with Petit’s rebellious view of his high-wire walk and the notion of “illegal but not inherently wicked or harmful.” As I said in my previous post about Let the Great World Spin, the walker, who is Phillipe Petit, truly lived. He was not bound by the laws imposed on him by society; rather, he lived his life as he saw fit and was a source of immense inspiration to those who witnessed his feat. The sense of inspiration I got from this movie was absolutely incredible.

The ending, however, was also a tad depressing; Petit’s dream was not achieved without sacrifice and that sacrifice came in the form of his friendships and his relationship. Petit’s sole focus throughout this endeavor was to fulfill his dream; he didn’t show any regard for what his friends or even his girlfriend wanted to do with their lives. His friends lived his dream and did their utmost to help him. This is especially seen in Jean-Louis, who stayed by Petit’s side even when all hope seemed lost and when Albert had abandoned him. It was sad to find out that they fell apart after the event, especially after such a show of love and dedication. Petit’s disregard for his companions is also shown in his treatment of Annie; as soon as he is released from prison, Petit sees it fit to cheat on her, because of his celebrity. I felt that was rather cruel of him, especially since she had dedicated her life to him.

All in all,  a great movie about a truly legendary feat but with the moral that there is no achievement without sacrifice.

Man on Wire- Reaction

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I knew about Philippe Petit walking between the Twin Towers from reading the children’s book, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein back in 3rd grade. But after reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, I was again immensely curious to see how this man accomplished his walk on a wire between the Twin Towers. I was specifically interested on how he managed to tie his cable between the towers. I don’t know why but I imagined that this was a one-man feat, which made it seem even more amazing to me. Contrary to my original thought, this was hardly a one-man feat. Philippe had all his friends on board to help him accomplish his dream, and at some point in the movie I really began to see why the feat had a deeper impact, more than the media had portrayed it to be.

The amount of time, money, and risk Philippe was taking with his relationships and physical body was crazy to think about. All of his friends were postponing their own lives and journey to join Philippe. They supported him and really cared about him, but I couldn’t see an inkling of concern Philippe had for his friends. To blatantly put it, he was quite selfish. When each of his friends were interviewed, his best friend Jean-Louis constantly spoke about Philippe’s safety and their relationship. But Philippe was so caught up describing how he accomplished sneaking past the guards, anchoring his cables and the excitement of it all. He was blind to see that it wasn’t just as simple as getting the job done, but there were major consequences bound to happen. What shocked me the most was when Philippe abandoned his friends after his walk and put them on hold when all this time they had put their lives on hold for his. It really was amazing to see the behind story and all the effort Philippe and his friends put into this once in a lifetime show, but heartbreaking to see what it was actually worth.