“In the Shadow of the Moon” honors human endeavor
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The nostalgic, bittersweet tone of “In the Shadow of the Moon,” an acclaimed documentary about the Apollo space program, aims to remind viewers that even at its most destructive, humankind is capable of feats of breathtaking splendor.
The film, which opens commercially on Friday, brings together for the first time crew members of each of the nine U.S. spacecraft that voyaged to the moon between 1968 and 1972, as the Vietnam War raged a quarter-million miles away on Earth.
“Even though it did start to beat the Soviets, we did try to do it for the right reasons,” Alan Bean, Apollo 12 lunar module pilot, recalled of the moon program. “I think people need a dose that America can do these things. Human beings can do amazing things if they get together and put their egos aside.”
“Shadow” features familiar images from the Apollo era, including the famed “Earth rise” photo taken from Apollo 8 and footage of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the lunar surface, but also weaves in never-seen archival footage the filmmakers found in extensive searches through NASA’s film library.
Moreover, the documentary marries, also for the first time, silent 16mm films of Mission Control during the Apollo flights with audio recordings of the controllers’ voices.
There is no narration other than that provided by the 10 astronauts who agreed to be interviewed, and the digitally remastered NASA film footage is surprisingly vivid.
But the film also intersperses footage of ticker tape parades for the astronauts with combat scenes from Vietnam.
Most of the Apollo astronauts were recruited from the military, and several talked in the film of feelings of guilt that they had done little to deserve their hero status while their friends were fighting and dying in Vietnam.
The film won an audience award for world documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, and reviews have so far been positive.
Director David Sington, who is British, said he was surprised that many in the festival audience drew a parallel between Vietnam and the Iraq war.
“It wasn’t really until we got to Sundance that I began to sense in some mysterious and serendipitous way that the film was very timely,” Sington said. “One can’t help compare how proud the world was of America during the space race.”
“Shadow” was not without moments of levity, as when Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin claimed the distinction of being the first human to fill a urine bag on the moon.
“There are not many of us left, and (we’re) maybe mellower, and now is the time to revisit the human-ness of feelings that we have,” Aldrin, now 77, said. “Its time has come.”
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