Man on Wire Documentary

Man on Wire is a very interesting Documentary that I just happened to see today. The whole movie is about an hour and a half. The documentary seemed a little surreal since the main Icon of this documentary no longer exists. It's about a man, Philippe Petite, whose life was consumed by this idea...when he was 17 years old, he was sitting in an office waiting to see the dentist, as he was suffering from a toothache, he noticed an article in a magazine. It was an artist's conception of the Twin Towers in NY, which had not been built yet. He took that picture and drew a line across in the shape of a tight rope. Everything he did from that point on was to accomplish what he believed the towers were made for. He believed they were made for him to walk across the tiny rope that joined the them. This is the story of his love for the towers, and his relationships with those who helped him and were considered his friends, back in 1974.
It's interesting to me that this man, although he may not have sought life as a performance artist, his life was art. He lived and breathed tight rope walking. Now all that he has is his rope. He lost all his friends. This movie reminded me a lot of the movie Wings of Desire because of the city shots. Also there's an interesting theme of life and death, and what it means for this man to live, and at what cost. It asks, "what would I risk my life for?"