5

5. Man on Wire
When you think about it, it's quite strange that this film is as uplifting and awe-inspiring as it is. After all, the act that the film centres on - guy walks between world trade towers on a tightrope - isn't heroic in the traditional sense. He's not rescuing people from burning buildings, or teaching blind kids to play the bassoon or anything. He sees his stunt as a work of art, which is reasonable enough, but it's a pretty fucking self-indulgent work of art. So I suppose it says something good about the film-makers that they managed to make something so magnificent. A big part of it is the music; the climax is set to that song, you know, the one that goes da ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra. ra. Very inspiring, the sound and vision combine to give you a kind of slack jawed fascination. (Actually, I'm feigning ignorance here, it's Gymnopedie No 1 as you've doubtlessly realised from my description.) Also, the film-makers are quite lucky that the most of the people in the documentary are French. There's a moment where Phillipe's girlfriend points him out to some passers-by: "It is a walker. It is beautiful!" It sounds quite good in her Pepe le Pew accent, but some of the magic would have been lost if this line had been delivered by a native of, say, Huddersfield.