Back in the summer of 1974, Phillippe Petit’s daring high
wire walk between the roofs of the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center
was a worldwide sensation. And why
not? It really was sensational. The next
day, Richard Nixon resigned, and the news cycle moved on.
The Walk is a biopic and a re-creation, starring Joseph
Gordon-Leavitt as Petit. As you might imagine, the movie features fabulous images of
the little wire artist defying reason, gravity and death on his slender cable, 1350 feet
high in the sky, suspended between the now mythic towers. This would be thrilling
in itself, and it is. It’s also beautiful and somehow uplifting.
The suspense begins well before the walk itself, however. Petit’s
astonishing stunt was accomplished without a permit or permission of any kind
(which he knew would not be granted), planned in secret as a dramatically
adventurous and artistic performance, with the knowledge that if he and his
accomplices were caught, they’d be arrested and the Coup, as they called it,
would never come off. The preparations for the walk were elaborate. There were
innumerable technical problems: how to secretly gain access to the two
unfinished towers - and then to the rooftops - at night, along with four
hundred fifty pounds of cable and the equipment to secure it, undetected by
workers or security guards; how to get the wire from one tower to another (the
corners were two hundred feet apart); how to secure it; how to avoid swinging
dangerously in the wind. Watching Petit and his motley crew carry this off is
wonderful, amazing and yes thrilling – even though we know how it comes out.
Before The Walk was released, there was speculation
that the movie was superfluous – seeing as there had already been a successful, Oscar winning documentary about these events, Man on Wire (2008), which tells
much the same story. But while the documentary has it's merits, in truth The Walk is way better.
Viewing Man On Wire is like watching a pretty good History Channel program.
The experience is interesting, but passive: you feel like – and are – an
observer, watching an historical event, pieced together with archival
photographs and TV news reports, some home video, and Petit and his cronies
narrating and reminiscing 30 years after the fact – all in uninspiring
black-and-white. There are a few (cheesy) reenactments intended to draw you
into the tension of the moment – such as a scene the night before the event, wherein Petit and an
accomplice hide under a tarp on the 104th floor, while a security
guard paces around interminably.
The Walk, by contrast, is more visually compelling and much more engaging, with a visceral quality lacking in the earlier picture. Petit and his cronies are characters with whom we can and do identify.
The action of the film seems to be occurring in real time. The risks of the
enterprise, the concerns of the people involved, and ultimately the thrill of
the sky-high wire walking are felt as real, immediate, and thus exciting. Even
the tarp scene is thrilling – we’re under there with Phillippe and his
acrophobic accomplice, as they perch on a beam atop an elevator shaft 100 stories high!
Joseph Gordon-Leavitt makes a convincing Phillippe,
narrating the story in a charming, funny, engaging turn. Enthusiastic, idealistic, talented, and self absorbed, his Petit comes to life as a very attractive young man on a mission. And
Gordon-Leavitt apparently absorbed enough of the craft of wire walking to
become a very believable acrobat. Even
his accent is cute. French Canadian actress Charlotte Le Bon (The Hundred
Foot Journey) is sympathetic and lovely as Petit’s girlfriend, Annie. The
rest of the ensemble are all good, with Clement Sibony as Jean-Louis, Petit’s
first and foremost collaborator after Annie, and Cesar Domboy as Jean-Francois,
who helps out despite being deathly afraid of heights, especially notable.
Director Robert Zemeckis (Romancing The Stone; Back
to the Future I, II, and III; Forest Gump, Polar Express),
cinematographer Dariusz
Wolski (Pirates of the Caribbean [I through IV], The Martian) and
their special effects team have utilized all of the considerable cinematic
magic at their disposal to re-create images of the World Trade Center towers so
precise and believable that they seem real; and not only real but stunningly
beautiful. Most of the second half of The Walk is devoted to Petit’s incredible
forty-five minute walk between the towers (he went back and forth eight times!),
wand the imagery is simply breathtaking.
I
have heard that some people found the wire walking scenes so realistic as to be
vertiginous. I did not find this to be the case. Petit has said that once he
was out on the wire, all of his previous anxiety vanished; he felt no fear, but
rather, a sense of exhilaration and a sublime, beautiful calm. This is closer
to my reaction. It was a lovely almost spiritual moment to watch.
Are
we okay with a movie that features the twin towers of the World Trade Center following
the tragedy of 9/11/2001? I think so. It’s been fourteen years. In fact, this
evocation of what was perhaps the Twin Towers greatest moment may help us
recall their glory, rather than simply their horrific demise.
The
Walk is
best seen on a big screen. I saw it in 3-D, which was used subtly, added depth
and verisimilitude, and did not seem at all gimmicky. I am sure the 2-D would
work fine, as well. Either way, this picture is gorgeous, entertaining and
worth seeing.
In wide release.
123 minutes.
[Note:
if, having seen The Walk, you would like more information about Petit
and his amazing feat, check out Man on Wire, available streaming on
Netflix and elsewhere. Although inferior to the feature film, the documentary
provides some details that were left out of the fictionalized version, plus the
actual Phillippe Petit. Also, there’s a bit of a melancholy gloss and a few
touching moments at the end.]
