MAN 0N WIRE
What’s u
DOC’
Borrowing from a classic heist movie, Man on Wire is the latest documentary to take its cue from the art of the feature film. Miles Fielder looks on as the line blurs
between fact and fiction
Ms
t’s supposed to be a documentary about a
daredevil balancing act between the twin
towers of the World Trade Centre in 1974 by high-wire walker Philippe Petit. Yet. British filmmaker James Marsh says Man on Wire was directly inspired by Rififi, Jules Dassin’s classic 1955 French film noir about a jewellery store heist. ‘I had always seen the film as a heist movie,’ Marsh says. ‘And we discovered there was an amazing group of supporting characters involved in the plot. The testimony of Philippe’s
accomplices allowed us to create multiple !
perspectives on the execution of this criminal
12 THE LIST 31 Jul—7 Aug 2008
enterprise with its many setbacks and conflicts.‘ Marsh. who began his career making leftlield music documentaries before garnering international attention for the BAI'TA-winning docu-drama Wisconsin Deth Trip. has assembled the testimony of Man on Wire‘s interviewees/supporting cast in the style of a crime caper. The film opens with I’etit and his accomplices (who go by various nom—de-plumes such as ‘The Australian'). recounting how they planned to break into both towers simultaneously in order to pull off the artistic crime of the century. It then flashes back to fill in the back
story — explaining Petit‘s passion for death— defying stunts and showing him in action traversing the Sydney Harbour Bridge — before returning to the WTC‘ caper to show exactly how the feat was pulled off. In terms of style and structure. Man on Wire does indeed owe a far greater debt to heist movies such as Ri/i/i than it does to traditional documentaries.
Marsh's film is a fine example of how documentaries are increasingly being made in the style of features and are treated by the industry accordingly. Where these films would previously have been broadcast on television. they‘re now receiving cinema releases. not just in arthorrse venues. but in multiplexes.
In keeping with this trend. Icon Iiilms Distribution isn‘t marketing and releasing Man on Wire as a documentary. ‘Since the lilm plays like a heist. this is the primary focus of the marketing campaign.‘ says [con I51) president Hugo (inrmbar. ‘We have a big cinematic trailer and poster. and our tag litre is: "The Artistic (‘rime of the Century“
So far this year. 22 documentaries have made it into UK cinemas. among them Morgan Super Size Me Spurlock's terrorist hunt Where in the World is ()sama Bin Laden I). and legendary documentarian Errol Morris‘ investigation of the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Standard Operating Procedure. It‘s unsurprising. then. that this June's Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) — which launched itself as a documentary festival back in 1947 and which boasts a strong doc strand in its programme — premiered a number of highly cinematic documentaries (Man on Wire among them). The IiIFF's documentary programmer. Jenny Leask. singles out three more examples: ‘The Werner Herzog lilm. Iz'llr‘ounters at the [ind oft/1e World. has lots of amazing undersea shots that look like sci-fr.‘ she says. ‘Alone in l’our Walls. which is about a Russian school for young offenders. looked amazing with lots of tracking shots and really beautiful composition. And sleep
furiously. which is about a rural community in
Wales. was slow and atmospheric.'
(‘inematic documentaries. however. are not exactly a new phenomenon. 'I‘hroughout the l‘)8()s in America. Morris was pioneering documentaries (such as his gripping death row doc The Thin Blue Line). the subject. style and