APOLLO 11 THE MOVIE (2019) 
WHEN ASTRONAUTS WERE GODS

Rating *****

The Grateful Dead once sang:

Standing on the moon/I got no cobweb on my shoe/ Standing on the moon/ I'm feeling so alone and blue.




I have to think that is decidedly NOT how Neil Armstrong felt for the first 23 minutes he spent alone on the lunar surface.

The mark of a great movie is when you know the outcome yet are nevertheless held in rapt attention.

Using a lot of never before seen footage, along with original voice recordings and no narration, filmmaker Todd Douglas Miller has created a wondrous film. This regales a time when Astronauts were Gods.  In the picture below, they are just hanging out after being picked up at sea.  On takeoff, Buzz Aldrin's heart rate was 88 - I've been there walking up the stairs - Jeezaloo!!!!

The film is presented in a neat chronological order.   As Miller told it, "We did have kind of our own mission rules. We said, if it didn't happen on that day at that specific time, we're not using it."  And it works. The footage, which I am guessing is restored, was taken by not only people at NASA but by the Apollo 11 astronauts as well.  As a result, the flight crew was given honorary memberships in the American society of cinematographers.




The scenes in Mission Control are equally compelling and much of the footage looks restored.  the celebrating at each step as well as the normal workaday occurrences take place (such as discussing Chappaquiddick, which occurred at the same time)

Even the footage of Armstrong stepping out onto the lunar surface was from a different angle than the oft-seen TV Broadcast angle.

And one of my favorite clips that I had never seen before was Aldrin leaving the LEM, joking that he was “closing the hatch door, making sure it doesn’t lock”.   Good ol' Buzz!

My only regret is not seeing this on the big screen.
WATCH THE NEW DOCUMENTARY Apollo 11. IT IS NOW ON HULU

5/5