“The Walk” (2015)
Astounding true life story through the loving lens of Robert Zemeckis.
Astounding true life story through the loving lens of Robert Zemeckis.
I commenced my recent review of Robert Zemeckis’ latest creation Pinocchio by positing the notion that I never feel as though I should be a core demographic for his films and yet for a lifetime, I have been. This year’s Pinocchio was Zemeckis’ 22nd feature length film he’s directed in a career stretching back to 1978 and considering I adore his Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, Cast Away and The Polar Express to obsessive levels of love and affection as well as liking Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Romancing The Stone from his earlier career and loving A Christmas Carol, Allied and Welcome to Marwen in more recent cinematic years, I’m clearly both a fan as well as being a part of his core demographic audience all along. In 2015, The Walk was Zemeckis’ 18th directorial outing to date and of his now 22 directed films all time at the time of writing, I’d seen 14 and so, with this real life gem missing from my collection, I made this number 15.
By sheer coincidence, and a further spark for my curiosity, came in the form of the highly recommended documentary film from 2008 entitled Man on Wire (directed by James Marsh) which I fortuitously stumbled upon one evening and after enjoying it so, I immediately tracked down the Zemeckis inspired cinematic dramatisation of an incredible story that has endured throughout my entire lifetime and which has had an eerie and sombre backdrop now for over two decades.
“Philippe Petit” (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) Self confessed “troubadour”, street performer and wire walker, Philippe Petit was just 25 years of age when on 7th August 1974 he and his crew of “conspirators” staged a breath taking public spectacle as well as their own self titled and meticulously planned “coup” by rigging a high wire between the recently completed twin towers of New York during the night and ahead of the Frenchman’s grand performance at around 7am the following morning. Gordon-Levitt narrates the film of the life he brilliantly interprets on screen from the beside the flame at the top of New York’s Statue of Liberty, and he paints a life of a typically expressive, argumentative and verbose young French artist who manages to find a zen and a peaceful tranquillity when performing on a high wire, even if it’s between the tallest of iconic buildings towering into the sky! “For me to walk on the wire is life” and after completing similar walks between the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral and the Sydney Harbour bridge in Australia, the young Frenchman falls in love with his next “dream”, to walk on a wire between the two newly completed and finished “Twin Towers” of New York City.
“Annie” (Charlotte Le Bron) is both Philippe’s first accomplice as well as the love of his young life and together with a varying cast of co-conspirators “Jean-Louis” (Clement Sibony), “Jean-Pierre” (James Badge Dale), “Jeff” (Cesar Domboy), “Albert” (Ben Schwartz), “David” (Benedict Samuel) and “Barry” (Steve Valentine) all help and indeed hinder Philippe’s burning ambition and dream before, just after 7am on that famous August morning of 1974, he stepped upon the wire that he gave him such life as opposed to the certain death he admits never entered his thinking. As is so well captured both in the documentary and Zemeckis’ dramatised version here, Philippe Petit doesn’t cross the wire between the two iconic buildings once or even twice but a reported eight times as a growing crowd of commuters stop and stare at the spectacle in the early morning sky and to the bemusement of local Police trying desperately to coax and coerce the artist from where he feels most alive.
Philippe Petit: The True Story Behind the Daredevil's World Trade Center Wire Walk
On August 7, 1974, a young Frenchman caught the attention of jaded New Yorkers by wire-walking between the twin towers…www.biography.com
The real story behind Philippe Petit's World Trade Center high-wire stunt
This post was originally published in September 2015. On Wednesday, August 7, 1974, people in Lower Manhattan stopped…ny.curbed.com
With Ben Kingsley providing a full and important cameo as arguably Philippe’s mentor as well as circus owner and artist “Papa Rudy”, Joseph Gordon-Levitt excels in the obvious central role that is sprinkled in the movie magic of Robert Zemeckis. The death defying walk is excellently shot and presented, as is the the walk between the towers of Notre Dame but again, with the addition of the documentary I had a fuller appreciation of the arduous nature and subterfuge leading up to merely preparing and rigging the wire let alone the incredible spectacle provided. The film has a feeling of a heist movie and not simply a death defying stunt high in the clouds of New York. The beginning of the film is a treat: shown entirely in black and white, Philippe is seen as the street performer he truly is with the only colour being the policemen chasing him, or the changing colours of a street light, his red piece of string and a red and white hard boiled sweet that would lead inadvertently to his dream, worldwide notoriety and a piece of history set against the horrors of another type of history in September 2001.
Based on Philippe’s best selling book “To Reach The Clouds”, Zemeckis’ visualisation and dramatisation has a dreamlike quality to it as well as an established storytelling showmanship that matches the verve and vitality of the artiste and his incredible story. The Walk has the vertigo inducing aspects of this year’s horror Fall (directed by Scott Mann) but equally complimentary is the parallel I’d draw with Steven Spielberg’s 2002 real life tale Catch Me If You Can. Where Spielberg drew upon the music of John Williams (as per usual) for his real life caper, Zemeckis collaborated with Alan Silvestri for a gently bubbling score that surrounded the wonderful cinematography of Dariusz Wolski and when combined with Gordon-Levitt’s charming central performance ensured a very fine film indeed and, dare I say, a typically Robert Zemeckis film?
A hearty endorsement for both the dramatic film and documentary alike.
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 100 blog articles (with 300+ individual film reviews) within my archives from which to choose:
“Halloween Ends” (2022)
The psycho and the freak show and the end of Michael Myers?medium.com
“The Forever Prisoner” (2021)
Alex Gibney with yet more ugly truths from the Evil Empire.medium.com
“The Greatest Beer Run Ever” (2022)
“War is not a TV show”medium.com