My wife and I had each heard a lot of positive buzz about the documentary "Man On Wire," about high wire artist Philippe Petit, who illegally sneaked onto the top of the World Trade Center in New York back in the 70's, strung a high wire between the two towers, and walked back and forth between the buildings.

The film is actually really good... part documentary, part artistic exploration, part heist film. Petit is odd, artistic, obsessed. The discussions with him are fascinating, as is the heist feel of the team trying to get into the building and figure out how they are going to secure the wire.

The only part of the movie that probably could have been left out (or at least improved upon) was the slow section prior to the heist where we learn about the team arguing and starting to fall apart. Frankly, the film's strength isn't in the relationships between the people involved, but instead in the relationship between the buildings and the act of spanning them.

Otherwise, it's a very well done documentary with some amazing footage that strikes a chord as we watch these buildings that are no longer there. And the filmmakers did the right thing by never bringing up the 9/11 terror attacks or the fact that the towers are no longer standing. Instead we see the towers being built and the act of high wire walking between them... focusing not on the tragedy of the towers eventual fall but instead on the triumph of engineering and human spirit that brought us not only the WTC towers but the artistry of Petit's accomplishment.