At the behest of my friend Jay, I finally watched the documentary \”Man on Wire\” last night. And it is fantastic. (It won the Oscar for \”Best Documentary,\” I believe.) It\’s about Frenchman Philippe Petit, who in 1974 walked between the Twin Towers on a cable for 45 minutes before police threated to grab him with a helicopter. But the movie is actually more of a crime caper, as it details the whole process of smuggling all their equipment to the top of the World Trade Center, then pulling off the stunt. It really is remarkable.
Anyway, here\’s the trailer. And if you have Netflix, the movie is available for the instant online viewing option.
February 24, 2009 at 9:34 am
Actually, I watched it this weekend too and while I enjoyed it and found it to be a very compelling story I don’t think it should have been eligible for the best documentary award.
I’ve seen many documentaries over the years, but I don’t recall seeing any where they actually dramatically reenacted scenes. I would estimate 25% of the movie was a reenactment so while I think it was a great film I do not think it was a true documentary and therefore should not have even been nominated for an Oscar.