In The Shadow Of The Moon

Starring: Astronauts of the Apollo Program

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/

This review contains spoilers as much as any documentary, which is not really at all.

Space ranks pretty near the top – if not at it – on my list of things that are both awesome and infinitely interesting. I don’t think there is any topic I more enjoy watching documentaries about, and while I’ve seen quite a few films about the Moon and the Apollo program – both documentary and fiction – I was still really excited to sit down and watch this latest one. Now that I’ve seen it I can comfortably say that it was the greatest film so far about the Apollo Program. It was extremely interesting, visually breathtaking, and overall just a joy to watch.

The Interviews, which make up the majority of the film – since they play over the stock footage as well – were weaved together to create a masterfully crafted narrative which felt less like an interview and more like a story being told by multiple people. That was always the point of the film of course so the fact that they went that route is not the great part, but more how well it all fit together. It all felt like one story and it flowed extremely well. Nothing  felt out of place and every statement or joke made by the Astronauts was well placed and important.

The camera work was pretty interesting as well which is surprising since half of the footage is stock footage and the other half is just guys sitting in chairs talking. But the interview sections were surprisingly well shot and they really helped add to the tone and emotions of the film. The direction and editing were also etremely well done, making the film both well paced and constantly enthralling – there wasn’t much as far as dull moments.

I’m not the type of person that doesn’t normally enjoy documentaries – I’ve seen plenty that have been amazing – but even if I was, I think that I would still have really enjoyed this film. I would recommend it to anyone who has even a small interest in the Moon or the Apollo Program. And as a final note, the Astronaut Mike Collins was absolutely hilarious. The guy would be talking about all the things that could or did go wrong and he’d be sitting there cracking jokes. It takes a certain kind of person to be so calm and non-chalant about something so monumental.

~ by Hobbes on July 5, 2008.