There is a film documentary out now called "Man on Wire".  It is playing in art house theaters and will probably remain under the radar.  Several of my friends called to say that it should be a must see on my list. I went to see it.  I recommend it to anyone.  

It is the story of Philippe Petit. His name is not a household word, but when I tell you he is the guy who walked a wire between the World Trade Center Towers in 1974 you will say, "Oh that guy."  He is now in his late 50's and accomplished this when he was 23 years old. Nothing he has done since will ever compare to that 45 minutes of fame. 

The film interviews him and all the accomplices who contributed to the stunt. They tell their story with a 34 year perspective. It is fascinating.  A man, or back then a boy, driven to perform an act that could easily result in his death.  It was a challenge he relished thinking that if it was to his death, it would be a spectacular death.  He started planning the feat when he was 17 years old, long before the towers were even built, when he saw an archetectual concept of the proposed construction in a French magazine.  

It is the story of obsession, art, compulsion and intrigue.  It was after all an illegal stunt and they had to prepare the rigging of a wire stable enough to walk across towers 200 feet apart and 110 stories high.  They planned it like a bank robbery.  

 

The "how" never gets in the way of  "why" because you see the passion and drive of the boy even in the much older man today. It did not come without a cost but, I did not see that he was concerned about paying the price.  Why did he do it? Like Edmund Hillary said, "Because it is there." 

As you were,

Jay