With all the ballets I attend, I don’t see many movies. Fortunately, I made an exception last weekend, seeing The Walk with my family. The movie, directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Flight) stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon. The movie is spectacular and memorable, documenting the story of Philippe Petit, a quixotic young aerialist from France with a dream of tight-roping between the newly opened Twin Towers of the World Trade Center (WTC).
The first part recounts Petit’s early life, providing background for the main event, what Petit calls the “The Coup”: his parent’s disapproval of his circus pursuits, life as a Paris street performer, learning process of tight-rope walking, relationship with mentor Czech circus legend Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), triumph at tight-roping Notre Dame Cathedral. The film then moves to the planning stage, where Petit develops his audacious plan with girlfriend Annie (Charlotte Le Bon) and enlists her photographer friend Jean-Louis (Clement Sibony). Pettit travels to New York and scopes out the Towers in various disguises over many months, meticulously planning the necessary steps for his walk.
On August 6, 1974, the day before his fateful walk, team Petit-disguised as construction workers-catch a break when an unsuspecting elevator operator gives them a ride to the top floor with their equipment. After escaping attention of a security guard, Petit’s accomplice on the North Tower, shoots fishing line attached to an arrow to the South Tower (about 140 feet), the first step in stringing the wire between the two towers. After several mishaps and frantic talk of aborting the mission, the wire is finally secured in the early morning hours of August 7. The planning is over; The Coup begins.
This is the spectacular part of the movie as Petit takes his first steps, a minuscule figure against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. He is 110 stories high-about a quarter of a mile-without any safety devices, against the impassioned advice of Papa Rudy. The special effects are gut wrenching, dizzying. I was a bit nauseous (in a good way) as the realistic 3D effects made it feel as if I was on the wire with Philippe. He not only walks the wire, but lays down on his back and kneels to salute the many tiny onlookers below. After about 20 minutes of spine-tingling effects (his actual walk was 45 minutes, eight times across the towers) he takes his last steps into the arms of the NYPD and into immortality; the strong-willed, impassioned Frenchman conquers the Twin Towers.
Petit’s idealistic pursuit of his dream is inspirational and uplifting. The ending of the movie is simple and beautiful, devoid of melodramatic excess, with the towers fading in the background.
The Walk must be viewed on the big screen, not a DVD. Who wants to see this on a 32-inch home TV? The Walk is appropriate for children as there is no foul language.
The movie had great meaning for me as I have fond memories of the Towers. I remember moving from Philadelphia to Jersey City 23 years ago and, on the highway, spotting the Twin Towers as they welcomed me to the New York area. Although the architectural critics hated the buildings, they personified New York to me: big, brash, powerful. A few years later, I worked in a building a few blocks from the Towers and visited them often. When I went to work Monday in Lower Manhattan, I paused and looked up to where the Towers stood and where Petit made his triumphant walk.