David Sington’s feature documentary film, In the Shadow of the Moon, is scheduled to open this weekend. It’s a good movie for what it does, but I was disappointed more by what it didn’t do (and if failing to live up to my preconceptions is its greatest flaw, that means it’s pretty darn good).
The movie is a video attempt to bring together the survivors of one of humanity’s most exclusive clubs: people who’ve walked on the Moon (along with the few others who joined them on the voyage to the Moon, but didn’t get to touch down themselves: the Command Module Pilots). Only 12 men set foot on Moon between 1969 and 1972; three of them have since died. But Sington managed to interview ten of the men who’ve been to the Moon, and their faces and voices tell the story. The interviews are shown with extreme close-ups of the faces (and, occasionally, their names), and their words of remembrance are interwoven with a lot of never-before-seen NASA footage of the Apollo era.
Looking at In the Shadow of the Moon simply as a historical document, it’s a wonderful piece; looks at people who may not be with us much longer, and looks at film we’ve never seen before. But it’s much more than that. Here we have the experience of becoming an Apollo astronaut, of experiencing the voyage to the Moon, of actually walking on another planet, all in the words of the people who did it. Nothing beats that first-hand “this is what I was feeling when I did this, and this is how I experienced it” story that we get in the film.
The astronauts interviewed in the film form an incredible roster:
Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot (the second man on the Moon)
Alan Bean, Apollo 12 Lunar Module Pilot (the fourth man on the Moon)
Gene Cernan, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Pilot and Apollo 17 Commander (the last man on the Moon… to date)
Mike Collins, Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot
Charlie Duke, Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot (the tenth man on the Moon)
Jim Lovell, Apollo 8 Command Module Pilot and Apollo 13 Commander
Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Lunar Module Pilot (the sixth man on the Moon)
Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot (the penultimate man on the Moon)
Dave Scott, Apollo 9 Command Module Pilot and Apollo 15 Commander (the seventh man on the Moon)
John Young, Apollo 10 Command Module Pilot and Apollo 16 Commander (the ninth man on the Moon)
Reading that roster, one name is conspicuous by its absence: Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon. Armstrong has made himself a recluse in the decades since he took that small step. According to Sington, “as the film came together in the edit, I began to admire Armstrong’s reticence, and to think that he made a very smart decision for us. Armstrong said that any of the astronauts might have been the first on the Moon and, since it just happened to be him, his personal reactions and experiences are beside the point.” Putting a bright face on this hole, Sington says “I agree with him. The importance of that ‘small step’ is not that Neil Armstrong stood on the Moon… it’s that a member of the human race left our home planet and stepped onto another world. Neil Armstrong was the ‘First Man on the Moon,’ but perhaps to ask for an interview with the ‘First Man’ is like trying to interview the Unknown Soldier. Paradoxically, by remaining slightly anonymous, Neil Armstrong helps us to appreciate the true meaning of what he did.” Sington believes that his presence in the film is defined by his absence. I disagree, although I can’t fault Sington for putting a brave face on what was a decision he couldn’t make. I’ve often wondered if our presence in space might be different if it had been Buzz Aldrin first down that ladder. With the first man alive but hidden, the entire space program has taken on that “we know it’s there, but we don’t interact with it” personality. Had it been Aldrin, in-your-face, entrepreneurial, enthusiastic Aldrin, I keep wondering how much farther our space program would have progressed with him as a rallying icon.
Be that as it may, Sington did an excellent job with what he had to work with. However…
Though the stated theme of the movie is the entire Apollo program, it focuses almost exclusively on Apollo 11. And while this is done to remove redundancy, and because Apollo 11 can stand in as a template for most all of the missions, it does seem to give short shrift to the rest (except for the five-minute interlude of Apollo 13).
I’m disappointed with Armstrong’s absence, with the emphatic focus on Apollo 11, and with the lack of the interviewee’s names on screen with their faces (we see their names very infrequently, but since we’re looking at ten balding or white-haired men in their 70s—over 100 minutes, they tend to run together.
I can’t rave that this is the best film of the year, but it’s a very good one; and on it’s topic, it’s a great film. I walked out of the theater inspired and impressed. I think you will, too.