Directed by the same man that gave you such classics as ‘Back To The Future,’ ‘Cast-Away,’ and ‘Forrest Gump,’ Robert Zemeckis brings the true story of famous wire-walker Philippe Petite to life on the big screen. Why you would watch a movie about a high-wire walker on anything besides IMAX is beyond me. I don’t even understand why they would release this movie in any other type of theatre. This is the type of movie that you have to experience in IMAX to truely understand the feats, struggle and balls of Philippe Petite. I was initially intrigued by the idea of this movie by seeing the trailer, but worried that the casting of Joseph Gordon Levitt as the flamboyant Petite, with his ridiculous haircut and learned accent, would truly sink this film; spectacle aside. The result was a pleasant surprise I am happy to say as we get a film that is part romantic comedy, part heist film, and part high anxiety historical re-enactment.
Similar to Zemeckis’ earlier work on ‘Forrest Gump,’ ‘The Walk’ starts us off from the beginning of Petite’s life and we journey through time with him. A romantic in every sense of the word, Petite is a dedicated man; part punk-rock anarchist, part pretentious psychopath. The film takes us on the delightful journey through his life from meeting his girlfriend (Charlotte Le Bon) through a very entertaining mime conversation, to him training to learn the highwire with famed circus performer ‘Papa Rudy’ (Ben Kingsley). Petite dedicates his entire life and being to his artistic craft, pouring all his time, energy, and money into performing on his ‘wire.’ We as audience members are locked as we want him to do it as well and root for Petite every anxiety driven, wince inducing step of the way.
‘The Walk’ plays out similar to a movie like ‘Mission: Impossible’ where the majority of the movie is spent with the main character assembling a team and planning for the big heist. People flake out, things go wrong, and eventually we get to reason why we all came to the movie in the first place: to see the famous walk with the added depth perception of the IMAX. Similar to a Disney movie, you know nothing here is really at stake, the hero will win; and Petite isn’t going to fall off the wire. But if you are like me and have a fear heights: even scenes where they are working on the edge of the building are exhilarating and fear inducing.
I felt myself getting the same squeamish feeling that you get riding a roller coaster right before it drops and it is incredible that you can experience that feeling while gazing at a screen. Having the first person perspective of Petite as he looks down over 100 stories is really chill inducing, you won’t believe me until you see this. What’s strange is that even though I initially was getting anxiety watching this film, the longer Petite walked across the wire, the more comfortable I felt with the heights and visuals, as he describes himself on screen, he also started to feel more comfortable as well the longer he was up there. It is interesting to note that even though it’s a movie, ‘The Walk’ does a good job of re-enforcing your fear of heights and Vertigo, by including a character that is very afraid of heights helping Petite to set up the high wires. His shrill shrieks and hallucinations about falling, really help you feel as if you are on that roof with them.
As Philippe Petite was a performing artist, He always gave reverence and respect to those that allowed him to perform his art. He thanked the people that helped him, thanked the wire for supporting him, thanked the audience for watching him, and he even thanked the towers for being there. Petite was trained that he needed to do this because without the audience there is no show and you need to thank them but it needs to be genuine. Not too over the top, not too subtle - just there and genuine. In a similar way, ‘The Walk’ gives quiet reverence to the events of September 11th. Portraying them in a romanticized light and immortalizing them as a symbol of hope and positivity - instead of what that horrific day has done. As much of a celebration of life and a memorial to the events of Sept. 11th, I thought: ‘Why couldn’t this movie have come out on Sept. 11th? They could have made that happen.’ But that would have been too much, too much convenient marketing, not really a genuine reverence for the events of that sad day. Petite has not only helped inspire people around the world, he also taught, even the movie industry, to give thanks to it’s audience in a respectful genuine way.
Similar to Zemeckis’ earlier work on ‘Forrest Gump,’ ‘The Walk’ starts us off from the beginning of Petite’s life and we journey through time with him. A romantic in every sense of the word, Petite is a dedicated man; part punk-rock anarchist, part pretentious psychopath. The film takes us on the delightful journey through his life from meeting his girlfriend (Charlotte Le Bon) through a very entertaining mime conversation, to him training to learn the highwire with famed circus performer ‘Papa Rudy’ (Ben Kingsley). Petite dedicates his entire life and being to his artistic craft, pouring all his time, energy, and money into performing on his ‘wire.’ We as audience members are locked as we want him to do it as well and root for Petite every anxiety driven, wince inducing step of the way.
‘The Walk’ plays out similar to a movie like ‘Mission: Impossible’ where the majority of the movie is spent with the main character assembling a team and planning for the big heist. People flake out, things go wrong, and eventually we get to reason why we all came to the movie in the first place: to see the famous walk with the added depth perception of the IMAX. Similar to a Disney movie, you know nothing here is really at stake, the hero will win; and Petite isn’t going to fall off the wire. But if you are like me and have a fear heights: even scenes where they are working on the edge of the building are exhilarating and fear inducing.
I felt myself getting the same squeamish feeling that you get riding a roller coaster right before it drops and it is incredible that you can experience that feeling while gazing at a screen. Having the first person perspective of Petite as he looks down over 100 stories is really chill inducing, you won’t believe me until you see this. What’s strange is that even though I initially was getting anxiety watching this film, the longer Petite walked across the wire, the more comfortable I felt with the heights and visuals, as he describes himself on screen, he also started to feel more comfortable as well the longer he was up there. It is interesting to note that even though it’s a movie, ‘The Walk’ does a good job of re-enforcing your fear of heights and Vertigo, by including a character that is very afraid of heights helping Petite to set up the high wires. His shrill shrieks and hallucinations about falling, really help you feel as if you are on that roof with them.
As Philippe Petite was a performing artist, He always gave reverence and respect to those that allowed him to perform his art. He thanked the people that helped him, thanked the wire for supporting him, thanked the audience for watching him, and he even thanked the towers for being there. Petite was trained that he needed to do this because without the audience there is no show and you need to thank them but it needs to be genuine. Not too over the top, not too subtle - just there and genuine. In a similar way, ‘The Walk’ gives quiet reverence to the events of September 11th. Portraying them in a romanticized light and immortalizing them as a symbol of hope and positivity - instead of what that horrific day has done. As much of a celebration of life and a memorial to the events of Sept. 11th, I thought: ‘Why couldn’t this movie have come out on Sept. 11th? They could have made that happen.’ But that would have been too much, too much convenient marketing, not really a genuine reverence for the events of that sad day. Petite has not only helped inspire people around the world, he also taught, even the movie industry, to give thanks to it’s audience in a respectful genuine way.
