Man on Wire
Popular but Alone There are people who just suck you up in their lives and throw you away when they don’t need you anymore. Philippe Petit, the main character of the documentary film “Man on Wire”, directed by James Marsh, is a great example of such a sucker. Barry Greenhouse, Petit’s accomplice, says it during the film, “He sort of draws you into his world.” Philippe was a brave, enthusiastic and persistent high-wire artist. His raw passion to walk hundreds of feet above the ground on a tightrope helped him to make his dream come true, and he became famous all over the world. Philippe broke the law not only to reach his goal, but because it was an adventure; breaking into the tower to perform wire-walking was like a bank robbery. That’s why he was so obsessed with it. He liked to be famous. That’s probably one more motivation that involved him in wire-walking. He didn’t care about anyone but himself. When Philippe became well-known, his narcissism killed childhood friendship and love. Petit abandoned his friends and broke up with his girlfriend. Jean Francois Heckel and Jean-Lois Blondeau, Philippe’s close friends, were ready to do everything for him. They realized that it was impossible to get legal permission for Petit to perform his high-wire walking in large public places like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Sydney, Australia, and the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, so they broke the law. It was Philippe’s dream and that was all that really mattered. They wanted to help him to make his dream come true. They wanted him to tightrope walk at the World Trade Center Towers in New York City – the dream of all his life – and they did. They believed in Philippe and his success. His friends sacrificed their personal lives to force Petit’s dream to reality. All their time they spent planning how to trespass the highest buildings in the world for Philippe to wire walk. The team planned their