Director Todd Douglas Miller got a hold of previously unreleased 70mm footage of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission and put together this grand opus which almost feels like it's in real time (well not quite). There is no narration except for some periodic news reports of the time including those from Walter Cronkite, whose familiar voice elicited a great deal of nostalgic feeling for me (as I was a mere babe of 16 years at the time of this historic event).
Miller's expert editing will undoubtedly remind those of us with dim memories what a vast enterprise the Apollo 11 mission turned out to be. Miller's documentary certainly has its moments-from the giant equipment utilized to propel the Apollo 11 rocket into space, the incredible power of the launch itself, the excitement of the first moonwalk and the tension at Mission Control, as the lunar capsule may or may not successfully navigate its way back to earth in those startling scenes of re-entry.
Despite Miller's technical triumph, not only is Apollo 11 way too long, it lacks the a human perspective-there are simply no interviews (including with the Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins) which might add some suspense and excitement to the story. The camera pans through Mission Control numerous times but despite catching a glimpse of all those people who contributed to the incredible effort, we never get to hear from any of them!
Fifty years has now come and gone, and flights to the moon have stopped. I wonder why that is. Could it be that there was nothing really to discover there in the first place? What was the big revelation when Armstrong brought back his soil samples and rocks? Indeed, there is no question of the bravery of the three astronauts in completing the mission-but ultimately perhaps the planners should have consulted Ecclesiastes 1:9: "there is nothing new under the sun."
Miller's expert editing will undoubtedly remind those of us with dim memories what a vast enterprise the Apollo 11 mission turned out to be. Miller's documentary certainly has its moments-from the giant equipment utilized to propel the Apollo 11 rocket into space, the incredible power of the launch itself, the excitement of the first moonwalk and the tension at Mission Control, as the lunar capsule may or may not successfully navigate its way back to earth in those startling scenes of re-entry.
Despite Miller's technical triumph, not only is Apollo 11 way too long, it lacks the a human perspective-there are simply no interviews (including with the Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins) which might add some suspense and excitement to the story. The camera pans through Mission Control numerous times but despite catching a glimpse of all those people who contributed to the incredible effort, we never get to hear from any of them!
Fifty years has now come and gone, and flights to the moon have stopped. I wonder why that is. Could it be that there was nothing really to discover there in the first place? What was the big revelation when Armstrong brought back his soil samples and rocks? Indeed, there is no question of the bravery of the three astronauts in completing the mission-but ultimately perhaps the planners should have consulted Ecclesiastes 1:9: "there is nothing new under the sun."