Man on Wire
 

I just finished watching this documentary. Its' available streaming in HD on netflix.

It's the story of Philipe Petit's high-wire act between the twin towers in 1974.

It's well done. What drives a man to do this? What drives the men and women he surrounded himself with, to help him?

RE
 

Saw this film with my fourteen-year-old son and we both loved it. We walked out of the theater really mulling over Petit's courage and hubris. Interestingly, all of Petit's friends--including his girlfriend--find their relationship with him oddly concluded at the end of his greatest tightwalking accomplishment. We talked about how there's really only so much you can ask your friends to do for you. They all helped him up there, watched him risk his life. They all dealt with the feelings that came from realizing that if he'd fallen, they would have also been responsible...I found the film a completely absorbing and unusual portrait of a man who was willing to risk it all for the fleeting memory of being on top of the world for one brief high-flying moment. It is wonderful this film was made at all. And the towers themselves are the lost stars of the whole show. I found that so touching.

the funny thing is that the actual walk was not filmed! Just still photos.

wikipedia says movie cameras were on the towers, and were supposed to film, but the person responsible was too exhausted to do it.

Petit, in the end, comes across as perhaps a self-absorbed narcissist, but that's kind of besides the point.

I kept wondering how these people funded their efforts. It seemed like they had endless amounts of time to sit around and do nothing and go back and forth between Europe and New York.

What a life. Years working on a prank.