New DVDs: 'Man on Wire' soars

"Man on Wire" makes no mention of 9/11 or the destruction of the World Trade Center.

The documentary chronicles the plot to have a Frenchman tightrope across the Twin Towers -- the 20th century's greatest work of performance art. In the summer of '74, these foreign conspirators brought thrills, not terror.

The indie film by James Marsh has been collecting some awards this season, and rightly so. "Man on Wire" serves up an inspired mix of interviews, real footage and evocative re-enactments. Marsh works Errol Morris' turf with a light and free hand. The movie is artistic, funny and wise.

(Update: "Man on Wire" won the Oscar for documentary feature.)

Never mind that the tightrope daredevil Philippe Petit shows up in the Magnolia DVDs' extras with a self-centered rap that breaks the film's spell. In fact, consider skipping that recent interview and just going with the movie's charming portrait of the wire walker.

"Man on Wire" begins with flashbacks from Petit's life. We see him as a boy in a medical waiting room, looking at a drawing of the enormous pair of buildings planned for lower Manhattan. The acrobatic kid, who loves to walk on ropes, pencils in a line between the two giants, thus setting off on his great adventure. "I must acquire my dream," he declares.

The movie spends much of its time on how the support team is put together. It's reminiscent of the era's "The Anderson Tapes" or other elaborate heist films. The conspirators, who come from three continents, all get cool caper-friendly nicknames.

Using false IDs and workmen uniforms, they manage to get several tons of steel cable and other gear onto the top floors of the unfinished WTC. Security almost catches the tightrope team a couple of times, resulting in tense moments that the movie plays for maximum value.

By the time the daredevil's heroics begin, we've been up all night with the support team, watching them frantically get the steel cables in place before dawn (all via re-enactments). Petit wire-walks back and forth for almost an hour, dancing and sometimes lying down, accompanied on the soundtrack by the etherial sounds of Erik Satie. This too was a thing worthy of powerful Twin Towers memories.

Marsh, a few of you will recall, made a stylistically similar but disturbing film in "Wisconsin Death Trip," the adaptation of Michael Lesy's book about the wave of misery, madness and all-purpose weirdness that beset the immigrant town of Black River Falls in the 1890s. 

Marsh's re-enactments blend with the work of a gifted photographer who lived there and then as Ian Holm narrates, flatly. Images include creepy stuff like keepsake funeral shots of children, so beware of darkness.

Marsh doesn't make excuses for the film's "violent and disturbing and horrible" stories. "I have an interest in that," the British director says. "I think other people do, too."

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week is the exhaustive box set "Murnau, Borzage and Fox," one of the year's best home video releases. Review on its way.

New and notable DVDs and Blu-rays:

Blue Blood (aka If I Didn't Care) (Koch Vision)

The Dark Knight (Warner*)

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (Fox*)

The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye (First Run Features)

Europa  (The Criterion Collection)

Gunsmoke: Season 3, Vol. 1  (Paramount)

The House Bunny (Sony)

Lost: The Complete Fourth Season -- The Expanded Experience  (Disney*)

Mamma Mia! The Movie (Universal*)

Mr. Bean: The Ultimate Collection (A&E Home Video)

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Universal)

Murnau, Borzage and Fox  (Fox)

Petticoat Junction (Paramount)

Rawhide: Season 3, Vol. 2 (Paramount)

Sangre de mi sangre (Blood of My Blood) (Genius Products)

Three Short Films by Werner Herzog (New Yorker Video)

Traitor (Overture Films/Anchor Bay)

Transformers Energon: The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)

Will Shakespeare  (A&E Home Video)

* = Available on Blu-ray. Covers Dec. 9-16.

Comments

[James Woolley]

I thought Man On Wire was brilliant. I hadn't even heard of this stunt, or the preceding ones, before this documentary came out.

The only drawback was that we didn't get to see any video footage of the actual stunt.

[Glenn]

Yes, they say in the DVD extras that no film/video exists from the rooftop. What a shame. The re-enactments on this docu are really exceptional, though, including that sequence. It points out just how bad most documentary re-enactments are.

Thanks for the comment James, look forward to your next one.