Being And Having.

A quick one on Nicolas Philibert's Être et Avoir (To Be And To Have), the 2002 documentary that seemed to be everywhere, despite the fact that I really had no idea what it was about until I got it out, and previously I had continually got it confused with The Class, which I think is understandable considering they are both French films, both documentaries (ok, we all know The Class isn't actually a doco, but you get my point), and both from the noughties. 

This kid really reminded me of the irritating, precocious one from Spellbound.

I finally got around to watching it, quite some time ago (remember, mammoth hiatus with family in tow, so this is from, what, early April or something. Jeez, I gotta get up to date asap... no social outings for me!), and I did enjoy it. It is about a small primary school in rural France, in a town of only a couple of hundred inhabitants. Due to the size of the place the school only has one class, educating pupils from throughout the primary school realm. Lead character Georges Lopez is tasked with teaching them all, though he is shortly to retire. The film follows the class for a year, with all of the different personalities, problems, egos and levels on display.


There were a couple that were striking about the film. Firstly, nothing really happens. There is no great drama, this is not a doco about a major accomplishment, or a tragedy, or someone overcoming all obstacles. It is just a film about one man, a very good teacher, doing his job in somewhat trying circumstances - that is, trying to teach various age groups at the same time. So, he has six year olds playing up and running around, and he has ten year olds trying to prepare themselves for high school. And he has to let each of them be themselves, achieve appropriately, yet allow them to exist age appropriately. I don't envy the task. (Not least because I don't like kids... but that's beside the point.)


Secondly, and this is just kind of an extended aside, I guess, it really reminded me of Spellbound. I really liked Spellbound. But the characters and how they were built seemed very similar. Interesting, huh? They were both 2002 films as well, that would have taken a long time to produce, on opposite sides of the world, but they felt similar in some ways. I mean, Spellbound was about a bunch of kids aiming for a very specific goal, with all of the work and drama and tension (of the good kind! The good kind!) that goes along with it, but they... felt the same. It's hard to explain. And I'm in a bit of a rush.


Having said all of that, it's just a nice film. I don't think it was incredible. Lopez is incredible, yes, but the film, while nice to watch, easy to watch, enjoyable to watch, is also a little forgettable. The kind of film you think about when someone brings it up and go 'oh yeah, that was a nice film...' but you don't really remember that much about it except that you thought it was a nice film. But it is a nice film. It's worth watching. Seriously. 3.5 stars.

It's Impossible, That's Sure. So Let's Start Working.

There is not a great deal that can be said about Man On Wire after looking at its awards page on imdb.com. Oscar, BAFTA, BIFA, BFCAA, Independent Spirit, LAFCAA, NBR, NYFCCA, OFCSA, PGA, 2 x Sundance and Toronto, just some of the wins. Plenty more nominations. That's a lot of wins, a broad spectrum of critics, audiences and industry recognition around the world.

Holy. Gemini. That is a long way up without a harness.

Man On Wire is a documentary about 'the artistic crime of the century', the build-up to and the happenings of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the tops of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in 1974, not long after their completion. Combining archive footage, dramatic reenactments and talking heads, the film goes through Petit's youth, his discovery of tightrope walking, hit previous conquests (including between the towers of Notre Dame and two pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge), the immense amount of planning to get into the twin towers in the first place, and then to rig the wires and actually achieve what he had to achieve. An incredible clandestine operation that could have fallen apart at any one of a hundred points in the build up to his early morning walk, the film demonstrates the tenacity not only of Petit, but of all who worked on the project. Keeping in mind that the achievement was completely illegal, that there was no permission involved, and that all of the equipment had to be taken to the roof of these towers, strung up under cover of darkness in a day before mobiles and email, with guards constantly on the loose, and all of this happening, what, 500 metres in the air?


Most documentaries that seem to get this kind of acclaim tend to be a little dour, they don't tend to be uplifting explorations of incredible achievement. Of course, they are out there, but generally I think it is harder to make a compelling film out of something light than it is out of something tragic. How do you get someone emotionally involved in something that a few people did that doesn't involve you feeling terribly sorry for them? Spellbound did it for me, trapping me in with the competition element. What Man On Wire has is the fact that it was illegal, and so horrifyingly dangerous. Nothing compares to watching the footage of Petit on the wire between these two iconic towers, so memorably and tragically destroyed so recently.


Director James Marsh does a tremendous job of working a reasonably tough assignment into a brilliant documentary. He was lucky, I guess, that the crew shot a whole lot of behind the scenes film footage in the lead up, giving him plenty of material to work with, and that the whole even was such huge news globally, giving him news footage and innumerable headlines to work with. But full credit to him and editor Jinx Godfrey for putting together so taught, so thrilling, so engaging. A definite 5 star must see.