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Last night I had the pleasure—for the second time—of attending a screening of an extraordinary new documentary about the Apollo Moon voyages called IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON. This time, however, the screening just happened to be the New York premiere of the film and five of the men who walked on the Moon were in attendance: Buzz Aldrin, Charlie Duke, Alan Bean, Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and Edgar Mitchell. Please forgive the PR plug, but I have to report that all 600 people who attended the premiere (at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium), received a copy of the new (September / October) issue of LAUNCH Magazine. The film is featured on the cover. It was gratifying to see these legendary astronauts with copies of LAUNCH in their hands. I want to encourage all of you to see this film when it comes to a theater near you. It opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday (tomorrow) and then debuts at theaters across the country later in the month. If you, like me, are tired of the cynical garbage coming out of Hollywood, go see this movie. It will restore your faith in America and what we were able to accomplish in a time when the whole world was pulling for us. The movie is being "presented by Ron Howard," who gave it his overwhelming endorsement during a private showing just before the Sundance Film Festival. The film went on to win Sundance's World Cinema Audience Award—and in my opinion, is very likely to be nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category next year. What makes this film so remarkable are the interviews with 10 of the astronauts who voyaged to the Moon between 1968 and 1972. In all, nine Apollo missions went to the Moon (yes, that includes Apollo 13 which had to circumnavigate the Moon before it could return home). All told, 27 men journeyed to the Moon, and 12 of them walked on its surface. Six of the 27 have died, including three of the Moon walkers. In interviews that range from solemn to incredibly humorous, the astronauts display more emotion than I've ever seen in a similar documentary. Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke, for instance, responding to wild claims that the Moon missions were faked asks: "But why would we fake it NINE times?" And the always animated Apollo 11 command module pilot Mike Collins says: "To me, the marvel of it is that it all worked like clockwork... Nobody messed up. Even I didn't make mistakes. I had the feeling the whole world was watching us. I have a lot of things I can do wrong, but consequences should I do them wrong are going to be immediately obvious to three billion people!" From the very beginning, Apollo 17's Gene Cernan sets the tone. "I called the Moon my home for three days of my life and I'm here to tell you about it. That's science fiction!" It has been nearly 35 years since humans last walked on the Moon. It's been so long, in fact, that it almost seems like science fiction in reverse. Even today's astronauts can barely fathom a time when a manned spaceship ventured beyond Earth's orbit. Whereas many earlier documentaries were stiff and even boring at times, this one is a great adventure story from beginning to end. And the feeling of isolation these guys had on their voyages is very evident in these truly amazing interviews. Keep in mind that these are the only human beings who have ever seen the Earth from that distance. "It was such an extraordinary experience for them to be separated from the home planet and I believe it took them years before they really understood the implications of it themselves," the film's director, David Sington, told me in an interview for the LAUNCH article. Notably, the filmmakers were not able to get an interview with Neil Armstrong. But the other astronauts speak for him, and he and his Apollo 11 mission are most certainly the centerpiece of this film. Armstrong remains the most revered of all the astronauts. Sington said that Armstrong supported the making of the film, but, not surprisingly, did not want to be interviewed. Archival interviews with Armstrong are included. While IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON will open in theaters before moving to the Discovery Channel next Spring, another documentary about Apollo is also making the rounds at museums, space centers and festivals. It's called The Wonder of It All and it, too, is well worth seeing.
09-06-2007 10:38 PM
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Earth-bound misfit
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 66
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I can't wait to see this movie!
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02-13-2008 10:29 PM
#2
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Growing more clueless...
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2057
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Re: Remember when the whole world looked up? See this film!
This movie is now available on DVD and it is a must see.
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06-22-2008 07:44 PM
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Rana sapiens
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2939
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Re: Remember when the whole world looked up? See this film!
This will be airing on Discovery tomorrow nite, Monday 6/23. 7pm MDT
THis is by far the best documentary ever done on any aspect of the space program IMHO (and I urge you to make all the kids view it as well).
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VIDEO: IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON is due to open on Friday in theaters around the country. 
