‘Moon’: Close-Up and Very Personal

By ROBERT W BUTLER

You’d expect “In the Shadow of the Moon” to offer some pretty spectacular footage from the Apollo space program and perhaps some interesting behind-the-scenes factoids about the race to put an American on another planet.

But who could have anticipated that this documentary would be one of the most moving, emotionally charged movies of the year?

The film is a history lesson, certainly, but history as seen through the eyes of the men who made it. Director David Sington obtained extended interviews with the surviving Apollo astronauts (the one exception was Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon and by all accounts a fiercely private person). These space pioneers give a unique insider’s look. Their approach isn’t scientific. Rather, they try to explain what it feels like – physically and emotionally – to hurtle out of our atmosphere and toward another world.

Some of these former space travelers found the cosmos a source of transcendent peace and calm. Edgar Mitchell talks of “ecstasy, an overwhelming sense of oneness with the universe.”

Others were less inspired. Michael Collins, the command module pilot on the original moon walk (and an astonishingly affable man), refers to the moon as “a hostile, scary place.”

Employing a wealth of archival footage, Sington lays out the basics of the space race and the genuine danger faced by America’s first astronauts. After all, while the Soviets’ rockets were blasting out of the atmosphere, ours were blowing up on the launch pad.

The test pilots and fighter pilots who made up the first generation of astronauts were hailed as instant heroes. We learn that while some of them loved the attention, others were ambivalent, especially since many of their old friends were being killed or captured flying missions over Vietnam. Moreover, astronaut training was so intensive that many of our space men felt they missed a big chunk of the 1960s, only later registering the social upheavals created by the anti-war movement, youth culture and civil rights activism.

They learned hard lessons. Such was the case when original Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom and two fellows died in an oxygen- fueled fire that broke out during a test in an Apollo capsule at the space center. There was, of course, the near-tragic flight of Apollo 13, which almost didn’t make it home.

One of the most chilling moments comes in a filmed (but never before seen) speech by President Richard Nixon, prepared in case the lunar module on the first moonwalk failed, leaving Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stranded. “They came in peace . . . may they rest in peace,” the president somberly declares to a presumably grieving nation.

But there’s funny stuff, too, such as Aldrin’s claim of being the first man to relieve himself on the moon.

All of this is fascinating and entertaining, but the real heart of “In the Shadow of the Moon” is more elusive. Without self- aggrandizement, these men – and the untold thousands working behind them – emerge as among the best mankind has to offer, visionaries pushing the boundaries of knowledge and exploration.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON

Movie review

* * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars)

Cast: Apollo astronauts

At: Westhampton

FYI: Running time: 1:40. Rated PG (mild language, brief violent images)

ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO

MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW

Originally published by McClatchy Newspapers.

(c) 2007 Richmond Times – Dispatch. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.