The Walk (5 Stars)

Yesterday evening I remembered that an important anniversary was coming up. On 7th August 1974 Philippe Petit became the world's most famous wire walker by walking between the two towers of the World Trade Center. 48 years ago, and it's a feat that's never been bettered. It's a feat that can't be bettered, for practical reasons. There's nowhere in the world where two high buildings are standing opposite one another. There's nowhere for a wire walker to place a wire 410 meters (1345 feet) above the ground.

It's all about placing a wire. Every walk begins with the wire walker seeing a place to hang his wire. It can be two trees on opposite sides of a street. It can be be the towers of the Notre Dame Cathedral. It can be the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The higher the better.

In the case of the World Trade Center, the preparation was more difficult than the walk itself. It took Philippe years. He had to learn all about the WTC and buildings in general. He had to spend weeks spying on the building and the workers in various guises. He had to be prepared to break the law. What he was doing was highly illegal. He called it the coup of the century. He gathered a gang of conspirators around himself to break into the buildings on the evening of  6th August 1974. Well, not actually break in. It was a matter of remaining in the building after dark when it was closed.

But it was beautiful. In 2008 a documentary was made about the coup, "Man On Wire". If you want to know the details about the coup, watch the documentary. If you want to savour the beauty of the coup, watch "The Wire". One of the problems of the coup, as far as the beauty is concerned, is that it took place so high. Philippe Petit was a speck in the sky as he crossed the wire, hardly visible to anyone without binoculars. Philippe himself saw the beauty, and that's what mattered to him. All that the rest of us have is grainy black and white photos taken by one of his collaborators. And we have the film before us. "The Walk" recreates the scene of the aerial crossing in all its beauty.

It was beautiful. The ugliest city looks beautiful from above. Philippe's friends accused him of risking death. That was far from his mind. He wanted to enjoy life. How many people have sat on top of the World Trade Center (or a similarly high building) and looked down? Very few. How many people have walked on a wire 410 meters above the ground and saluted their audience? Only one. Philippe Petit.

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