Apollo 11
[Devin Dayley]
Year Released: 2019
Synopsis:
This documentary follows the three astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. They manned the mission that made Neil Armstrong the first man to walk on the moon’s surface.
Review:
I like space. I have always been interested in the idea of going to space, the difference or absence, of things we take for granted here on Earth. Also, the lack of knowledge that people have concerning space and what would happen when a man stepped foot on a planet that was not Earth. Having realized that and having made that known, I recognize that this film was kind of “made for me.” Some people might not like it. People do not like the films “First Man” and “Apollo 13” because they are not interested in the space program. I love them. In fact, they are some of my favorite movies of all time. In contrast, I do not like the film “The Hunt for Red October,” but other people love it because they might really be into ocean travel and subjects surrounding that. I am not interested in that, hence why I do not like that film. I say all of that just to emphasize that people are all different, and some people like films that others don’t.
This is a film, not a movie. Obviously it’s considered a film because it’s a documentary! Right? What I loved about this documentary and why, I believe, it is such a film rather than a movie was the real, actual footage from the event. So no little sub plots could be intertwined to make the story seem more enticing or interesting. They had to use what was there and what actually happened or else they wouldn’t have been able to use the real footage.
While watching the film, I noticed a few things. First off, I was astonished at how calm these astronauts were during the launch. I think Neil Armstrong had the highest heart rate with it being around 115 bpm. The other two astronauts heart rates were lower than that! Going up into space, knowing you could die at any moment, would be so scary. I think my resting heart rate for the whole trip would be at least 120 bpm. This is probably why I am not an astronaut.
Something else I noticed and was kind of pounded into my head was how big of an event this was for the public. For probably the first thirty minutes of the film, when the rocket is getting ready to launch, we are shown many shots of people camped out in different areas watching the launch. I mean, there were millions of people just in Florida watching the launch in person, then, I’m sure, there were millions more at their homes watching the launch on their televisions. I couldn’t even tell you when the last space shuttle went up from Earth. Stuff like that is just not publicised like it used to be.
Something else I noticed in the film was how much technology was required to undertake a mission of that magnitude. There were shots showing rows and rows of computers used for monitoring the spacecraft and the astronauts. There would then be a glass partition, then more computers beyond that. I know technology has improved so much since 1969, but even still, this was a huge technological undertaking.
I, also, really liked the score of the film. If you take note, there isn’t much of a man-made score. There were one or two songs here or there but the score is just natural which helps keep you in the moment. An artificial score could have made the film more anxious and strugglesome. However, not really having a score allowed the audience to be more in the moment and decide for themselves what emotions to feel, which makes said emotions much stronger.
Real quick, this is the green, conservationist in me coming out, but I notice, in every film about space travel, that space ships shed off so much of their useless materials into space. Think of how much waste is just sitting up there in space, floating around! Ugh, what a waste of precious materials.
I loved this documentary! I would recommend that everyone should see this film. Not only is it an important and historic in our nation’s history, it’s important for the culture of Americans.
I would rate this documentary a 9.3/10.
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