Man on Wire

Man on Wire is a very interesting film that has many more elements to it than first seen with the untrained mind. The focus of the film was the idea that Philippe was a "live life on the edge" guy who traversed many tall, some famous structures, on thin wires, just because he felt compelled to do it. That idea alone made this documentary interesting. However, instead of simply exploring Philippe and his stunts, the documentary went into the personal lives of everyone involved with the Twin Towers wire walk and incorporated many interesting elements. It was interesting and effective the way the film switched time periods; it jumped back and forth between the Twin Towers wire walk, Philippe's rise to "stardom," the plans for the final act, and explored everyone's lives and how they were related to Philippe. These jumps really kept the viewer awake and made it much more interesting to see how the Twin Towers act was all pieced together.

There was one element, at no fault of the film makers, that makes this piece a bit unsettling, though. Although Philippe is such a unique, entertaining, and interesting character, it is hard to respect a man like that for what he did. After he and all of his friends, including his girlfriend, many of which were childhood friends of his, assisted Philippe with completing his act that was for Phillipe and Philippe alone, he abandoned them -- all of them. Despite the fact that they were helping Philippe mostly only out of the kindness of their hearts and they sacrificed so much for him, Philippe simply ditched them all for fame. He became consumed by stardom and his own ego that he forgot how much his friends meant to them. Which raises the point that maybe he only pretended to befriend them and was only using them to complete his self-centered goal of walking between the towers. Either way, it is a very sad element to a film and an act that were so great and inspiring