​FILMS

the walk

2015 review number 156:

The Walk: (Drama/Biography): 81 out of 100: Man on Wire was the 2008 Oscar-winning documentary that detailed the daring but illegal tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in New York by a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit. It was a fascinating, intriguing and genuinely exciting account of Petit's daring exploits. Seven years later, we have a feature film based on this event, which is as equally as thrilling when staging the tightrope scenes although the biographical representation isn't as exciting.

 

Philippe Petit is a juggler, unicyclist and tightrope walker who delights the crowds with his performances. One day, he strays into the busking territory of Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), yet they develop a romance. His ambitions are lofty, he sees a photo in a magazine of the Twin Towers while waiting in a surgery and convinces himself that he must walk between the two skyscrapers. He enlists the help of Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) who is an accomplished tightrope walker. To make the feat of walking between the Twin Towers possible, he assembles a team which includes Annie, a photographer named Jean-Louis (Clément Sibomy) and Jeff (César Domboy), a mathematician who is afraid of heights. When they arrive in New York to plan Petit's walk, they are joined by locals including J.P, a French-speaking electronics salesman (James Badge Dale) and Barry Greenhouse (Steve Valentine), a life insurance salesman who works in the Twin Towers.

 

I'm not usually a fan of narration in movies but having Petit narrate from the torch of the Statue of Liberty is an ingenuous idea. He faces the audience and presents his story to the camera. His passion for performing in front of a crowd encapsulates the direct narration to the camera. Gordon-Levitt breathes life into his role of the daring tightrope walker with Petit's likeable though mischievous qualities endearing viewers to him.

 

There are three clear segments in the story: the first involves the biographical representation which overstays its welcome, the second is the 'heist' which generates a better pace, and the third and most exciting, the walk between the Twin Towers. Even though most people would know of the outcome, it is amazing how much tension is generated and that's a tribute to Zemeckis' direction which keeps you on the edge of your seat. If you experience vertigo, you're going to have some problems as the camera angles are so realistic. Even the Twin Towers and the streets below provide a sense of realism which demonstrates the wizardry of the visual effects.

 

Zemeckis' partnership with his regular score composer, Alan Silvestri, continues and he provides a range of music from the cool jazz of Petit's public performances in Paris to the suspenseful involving the scenes on the tightrope and the lush melodies when Petit and Annie share their love.

 

Some viewers dislike real-life stories because they already know the outcome, however the way these events have been presented ensures that it feels like they have never been seen before. You will walk out of The Walk with a smile on your face and rejoicing in the human spirit.

 

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, Clément Sibony, César Domboy and Ben Kingsley

(123 minutes)

Parental advice: Coarse language and nudity

Additional scene during or after credits: No

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR1EmTKAWIw (Movie trailer)

(Reviewed on Friday 16th October, 2015)

 

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