Considered by many to be the "artistic heist of the century," Phillippe Petit's 1974 wire walk between New York's World Trade Center towers is an immersive study in design wrapped in an auspice of art. And for me at least, the walk itself was much like the conclusion of any creative endeavor — a bit of a letdown. Consistent with the views of many designers and artists, Petit serves to illustrate that the end of any creative pursuit only forms the path for the beginning of another. When he argues that "there is no why," Petit expresses yet another wire walk between the disciplines of art and design and his own questions surrounding an undetermined future.
The title Man on Wire describes both the complaint tagged to the police report and Petit himself. It's a tight little story of a man who clamors for attention for the work best performed within his own most personal moments. Igor Martinovic's cinematography is upstaged by the rich and ruddy quality of the film that Petit wisely captured and collected from an early age. Without this footage, the visual style of the picture would suffer. But Petit is both an accomplished aesthete and skilled in the process of design at its core; from the measured construct of his planning sketches, to his work and personal relationships, his personae, his acts of performance, and his mad daring. "Now, it's impossible, that's sure. So let's start working," Petite says at one roadblock. And the process begins.
The early 1970's demonstrated a era of promise in America and New York's Twin Towers represented a sanguine spirit of worldwide cooperation, optimism, and progress. The beauty and seeming innocence of that era — to then be chronicled in 2008 — can't help but borrow on the emotion surrounding the events of 11 September, both innocent and tragic. The contrasts in imagery naturally reminds of what the Manhattan skyline once was, and the efforts displayed in the construction site footage recalls the incredible and horrific power of each tower in free fall. Petit's clandestine preparation can't help but stimulate consideration about the terrorists' planning and prompts the viewer to ask himself, with some trepidation, "what is next?"