Apollo 11

2019 documentary

Rating: 16/20

Plot: You probably know the plot of this one.

Though I prefer For All Mankind with its Brian Eno score, this is really good visual documentary storytelling. You don't need a narrator to describe the calm before the storm with the media, ground control, the camping onlookers, and the trio of astronauts before they get on that rocket although the Cronkite stuff is nice to hear. The immensity of this thing they're going to be propelled into space with (320 feet tall)) is shown with the lumbering movement of the apparatus on those giant tank treads. When that thing ignites? Man alive! That is quite the display of power!

A montage of still photographs before take-off is touching, and for some reason, watching those made me wonder if I should have liked First Man a little more. This is a nice companion piece to that, by the way. But those photographs really brought the humanity into this. It was like lives flashing before our eyes. Maybe that was a seed planted in my mind that made it feel like there were cracks in the astronauts' stoicism.

Like For All Mankind, this does show the astronauts as very human. They're not as obviously awed by the experiences here, maybe, but there's something about Buzz Aldrin telling ground control, "I promise to let you know if I stop breathing," that made these guys cooler in an authentic way rather than just being cool because they were the first guys to go to the fucking moon.

Like Amazing Grace, this is a great document that shows what mankind is capable of. And as somebody in this said, it's also a symbol of our insatiable curiosity. And as Kennedy says in the speech that concludes this, it's a symbol of our boldness.

Oh, there's a nice musical moment, too. On their way back from the moon, there's a scene where they play a cassette on a spinning cassette player. It's a song called "Mother Country" by John Stewart, apparently one-third of the Kingston Trio.

This concludes my movie-watching from 2019. Thank you for your attention.