A review of the new documentary film “Apollo 11”
I was 21 and a student union leader when Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon and I kept the student union building open all night so that we could witness this historic occasion live – even though they were hazy pictures on a small screen.
So I thoroughly enjoyed the big screen experience of the movie “First Man”, which was an impressive recreation of the mission, and – to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the historic event – I was delighted to see (again on a cinema screen) this thrilling one and a half hour documentary crafted by director Todd Douglas Miller from freshly-discovered 65 mm footage and more than 11,000 hours of audio.
There is no narrative, only voices from the time, and of course we know the outcome, but it is still a wonderfully moving experience and some of the imagery – especially long shots of the banks of men and computers involved in the launch and mission control and footage shot by Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin – was new to me.
Looking back, the whole entourage looks so white and it’s good that we have recently had the film “Hidden Figures”. Was it worth the stupendous cost? I don’t know, but it was a scientific achievement of magnificent proportions and it is right that we should celebrate it.