Man on Wire – Philippe Petit: tightwire between the Towers
My daughter alerted me to this movie – she did a tightwire act for the opening of this movie in New Zealand. Man on Wire tells the story of how in 1974, a young French man Philippe Petit walked a tightrope illegally rigged between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
The feet itself is amazing – dancing on the tightwire for over an hour before being arrested in what has been called the ‘art crime of the century’. He was later released – I guess his biggest crime was to embarrass the WTO security folks who did not pick up on: someone carrying hundreds of metres of steel cable; smuggling a bow and arrows to get the first wire across; and then spending all night on the roof with his friends rigging the wire!
After six years of planning Petit achieved his feat and walked among the clouds. This movie should get much wider attention than it has received so far. What do you think? You can see how to build your own tightwire rig here.
Cheers
Jerry
