Man on Wire

"We also gain our ability to have ecstatic experiences of truth through the Sublime, through which we are able to elevate ourselves over nature." (Herzog). The documentary Man on Wire primarily focuses on a man, Phillipe Petit, fabricating a reality that was once merely a dream. Herzog speaks on how fiction is so captivating based on impossibilities being implicated into a sense of reality. Upon watching this documentary, Petit's and his team's actions are so outrageous that they almost seem false. But Petit is so determined to follow his passion that he turns an impossible dream into his reality. Petit's reality was difficult for others to grasp at different times throughout his journey. His teammates had concerns for his safety and had doubts of his ability to fulfill his dream without the cost of death. Then, when he was on the wire, spectators were unable to understand what they were looking at when Petit's then girlfriend starts pointing him out in the sky. Like in Allegory of the Cave, these spectators are blind to certain truths or to things they have never experienced and have difficulty figuring out what is happening when a Petit starts his walk. Much to Petit's disappointment, many Americans would ask him why he chose to walk between the Twin Towers. He could think of no fathomable reason because, simply put, performing the walk was Petit's reality. He had internal yearnings to follow through with the walk, knowing that his truth was to fulfill his daring feat. With his determination, he practiced and planned out his walk meticulously until the day came to follow through. His passion led him to overcome nature and overcome his fears to create his reality. He overcame seeming impossibilities and showed an exciting and beautiful new reality to the world by overcoming natural and legal forces to accomplish his walk. And by doing so, Petit opened new possibilities for his future, for his new reality. Like those in Plato's cave, most could only imagine the reality of doom that would overcome Petit if he attempted his walk, but Petit was able to see past that and drive his dream forward through passion. So, when others saw him walking across the wire, they would have looked on with disbelief because they could not envision such a reality where a person could overcome something so implausible. And because of this, everyone looked in awe; they were in the midst of an extreme reality in the making. 

Man off Why

Man on Wire is a documentary that reveals the story behind a tightrope walker named Phillippe Petit who managed to pull off the illegal tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. His story is both compelling and inspiring as it leads the audience through the ups and downs of his journey. The documentary does a good job of revealing the truth of the absolute impossible nature of Phillippe's dream. After several years of practice, and multiple flights to the United States to research the coming and goings of the World Trade centers, Phillippe and his crew finally developed a plan that was just barely thorough enough to give them as single shot at setting up a tight rope at the top of the Twin towers and walking between them. 

The truth is Phillippe Petit's journey was found in the details of his story. The way they had to hide from security guard for hours, shoot an arrow with a wire on it from one tower to the next, pull the slack of the heavy wire for hours, all to barely get one shot at Phillippe's dreams. It should also be noted that all his preparation and work hinged the commitment and motivation of Phillippe's team, which was made up of friends, strangers, and an unanticipated contact at the top of the towers. Other than revealing the truth of the story and the impossible nature of their tasks, Man on Wire holds the elements of an "ecstatic truth." Herzog's ecstatic truth is a term that refers to a truth that is “mysterious and can only be grasped with effort; one attains it through vision, style, and craft.” This type of truth was scene in the success of the goal as it pertained to Phillipe's enthusiasm and fearless ambition to chase his dreams. The documentary went further as to reveal the truth about the effect that completing Phillippe's dreams had on his friendships and relationships.

In Man on Wire, relationship nuances that did not entirely pertain to the completion of Phillipe's goal were revealed. Some of which included his relationship with a long-term lover and the way their relationship ended shortly after the completion of such a large and beautiful goal. Phillips also grew apart from his other good friends who fulfilled essential roles in the planning and completion of his dream. The truth to be determined from these aspects is dependent on the interpretation of the audience. The termination of Phillipe's relationships could have been due to the fact that their friendships were around the premise of effectively doing something as beautiful as it was impossible. It could have also been a result of the lustful nature of ambitious desire and success. Man on Wire creatively made the connection between lust and ambition by including the part of the story where Phillippe went home with and had sex with an admirer upon being released from prison. The rewards of lust and ambition are very similar and play a large role in motivating people to attempt the assumedly impossible. 

However, as Phillippe explained at the end of the documentary, although it is interesting to speculate "why" people do what they are passionate about, the "why" doesn't matter. The only thing that does matter is the truth in knowing something that beautiful "did" happen. 

The Biggest Dreams are Defined by the Thinnest Lines

Man on wire, an incredible documentary, one that portrays the tension and the voyage that the event itself produced at the time. The moment I realized what exactly he planned on doing and the process it took to prepare for it, I too was able to appreciate it, to admire this peculiar art form that I never imagined could be so majestic! This was, as Herzog mentions in On the Absolute, the sublime and Ecstatic truth, "a poetic, ecstatic truth, which is mysterious and can only be grasped with effort; one attains it through vision, style, and craft," and surely it took years of preparation and effort. It defined who Philippe was, this creative crafty guy, the "bad boy" who always looked for adventure, yet maintained a strict plan for transcending the thoughts of those who labeled it as impossible.
But, why? why have that drive and desire to wall-walk the twin towers? Philippe states that this was a challenge that he understood was his for the taking, the moment he saw that page in the magazine. It was as if he had finally understood his purpose, the moment he read about the world trade center, he knew what his destiny was. That's when the preparation began, he would prove that he could, and he would convey his dream in a sublime and noble manner.
The simple mental strength it took to prepare for it, not to mention physically, depicts a man who would stop at nothing to accomplish this vision. Fear roamed around many times and insecurity crept up on multiple occasions, and he was well aware of it, yet his passion outweighed those and thus gave him strength to continue. This wasn't JUST a dream, it was his destiny, this was the main purpose in his life, the climax even. A story specifically articulated for his life, a stunt tailor-made for him, which he performed in the most beautiful manner possible.
Thus, he exercised something so beautiful and so dangerous, that it left the world in awe, and proved that no dream was impossible if you're willing to do what it takes to get there. As I was once told "luck is when preparation meets opportunity" and in that form, he was definitely a lucky person. His dreamed was fulfilled not because he was randomly selected by some supernatural power to be the "chosen" one for this, but because the moment the opportunity rose he prepared for it and it payed off.

Man on Wire: A Beautiful Outlook

Man on Wire romantically retells the story of wire walker Philippe Petit as he waltzed between the twin towers in 1974.  The cinematic qualities of Man on Wire such as the violins and constant soft music that played as people spoke, and their genuine tear filled testimonies, were unique compared to other documentaries.  The producers created a film that not only recalled  a story, but led people forty years later to share in the experience; this kind of truth is hard to recreate.  Like Hands on a Hard Body, the best elements of human nature are shown because of the uniqueness of each task.  

Man on Wire displays an “ecstatic truth” which Herzog describes as “mysterious and can only be grasped with effort; one attains it through vision, style, and craft.”  Philippe’s feat and preparation were illegal, but the task was viewed as extraordinary rather than psychotic or dangerous.  Philippe is comparable to Walter Steiner at the end of Herzog’s “On the Absolute, the Sublime, and Ecstatic Truth” in their pursuit of fulfillment and independence in their acts.  Philippe acts with the help of his acquaintances, but acknowledges that the journey is his.  He intentionally distances himself from his long time lover so not to break her heart if he falls to his death and to truly experience the beauty of his craft as an individual. 

Wire walking also draws feelings similar to the opera: as Herzog describes, “The feelings are so abstracted; they cannot really be subordinated to everyday human nature any longer, because they have been concentrated and elevated to the most extreme degree and appear in their purest form.”  Even through a documentary, the retelling of Philippe’s wire walking creates natural, unexplainable feelings.  Witnessing a human achieve something he dreamt of throughout his life and with aspects seemingly impossible to overcome, is an “out of this world” experience.  I can only imagine what it would be like for people who saw firsthand.

As his friends and those who helped recalled years of knowing Philippe and preparation for the event, there was minimal regret (fortunately, he completely the event safely – it would have been a different documentary had he fallen).  Even those who broke the law in their workplace to assist him, had no remorse; the beauty of the act was more important to them than the risk.  Philippe himself claimed that dying doing what he loved would be a beautiful death.  Even at the height of the Twin Towers, he danced, knelt, and laid on the wire: his wire walking was not a show, it was a journey, and an art. 

Why do We do What We do?

Philippe Petit, a name that not many people from our generation of millennials may know. This is a French tight rope walker who's dreams and ambitions took him to the top of the world literally. In 1974 Philippe walked across a wire connecting the twin towers in New York for 45 minutes. Philippe said in the movie Man on Wire, he had "a dream not of conquering the universe, but as a poet conquering beautiful stages."

For both the Man on Wire and Hand on the Hard body, the question of why comes up. Why did Philippe walk on that wire 450 meters above the streets of New York? Why did the individuals stay there for 78 hours with their hands on that truck? Sometimes there is no reason. It is about being in the moment and taking in what is truly around you. In Hand on the Hard Body, there is a comment about being aware of the people around you that otherwise you would never have been aware or understand a person so well without being around them in that close of an environment.

The movie was great about showing the progress of following your dreams even if they are not available to be attained at the time. Even through all of the things that went wrong, it still managed to happen. The people who saw were in awe and it gave them a great show that none of them would forget. Herzog talks about the act of creating a prefix and back story. They did a good job of this interviewing the people who helped Philippe attain his dream. When they all spoke of him they broke down with happiness and amazement remember this great memory. It inspired me to go out and accomplish something amazing for no reason at all, but just for the sake of doing it.