In The Shadow Of The Moon
If there is only one thing that survives my cynicism, I hope it is my admiration for, and belief in, the determination and ingenuity that put men on the Moon. For all that it was driven by the “Mine’s bigger than yours” of the Cold War, there is something transcendental about that very human endeavour.
It’s the human faces of that endeavour that form the core of this documentary. The actual story it tells is almost laughably familiar, but to hear the astronauts talking about their experiences, physical and emotional, is compelling.
That each of these men walked on the moon sets them apart from the rest of us – but in hearing their stories, you get a better sense of their normality. (For all their test-pilot, daredevil backgrounds, NASA astronauts are almost uniformly solid, temperate men.)
It’s almost comical how far the astronauts, now in their seventies, encapsulate the image of the all-American grandfather, just as they embodied the all-American hero in their youth. They have a certain honest awe about their past, but also a sense of the absurdity of it. The film’s star turn has to be Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 astronaut who didn’t land on the moon – a self-deprecating and goofily funny presence throughout.
It is not in any way a critical film – it touches on but does not interrogate the political and social turmoil of the time, and the Cold War rivalries that precipitated the Space Race. It’s sole purpose is to recount the memories of these astronauts in their own words.
(It has to be mentioned that the footage of all stages of the mission is still stunning, whether the familiar, iconic images or less familiar footage.)
I saw:
- 20/08/07, 3.15pm: In the Shadow of the Moon (Filmhouse 2 EIFF)
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