Absolutely fascinating documentary exploring the Apollo missions to land on the moon. Essentially, the film charts what a complete mission was like from the launch (it is pretty clear Ron Howard composed his shots for Apollo 13 based on this footage ) to the landing on the Moon. The film only uses archive footage and audio from all the missions shot by NASA and the astronauts in space and audio interviews with the astronauts are used as a form of narration. But what footage it is!! Of course, an awareness that this is real footage makes this all the more fascinating ( a humorous subtitle reminds us that this was shot on location ). Reinert also has an innate sense of crafting a story through the editing, moving between footage shot at Mission Control and the astronauts from all the missions to tell the story. The film does lose a little momentum once the astronauts land on the moon, but the footage shown is never less than stunning.
A romantic oral history the Apollo moon missions, as told by the participating crew members. Although this phase of the space program spanned four years, ten missions and six crewed landings, the filmmakers have bundled the whole lot together in a single loose narrative, presumably to avoid covering the same subjects multiple times. Other documentaries, before and since, have addressed the scientific, societal and dramatic aspects of each excursion. This one takes a more personal angle. What did the Apollo astronauts see, hear, feel and imagine while they coasted through the cosmos at 25,000 miles an hour?
Our answers are culled from a cache of old materials - candid handheld footage, behind-the-scenes film and spoken recollections - and they reveal a refreshingly human side of the team. Now that we’ve erected statues and dedicated textbook chapters in their honor, it’s easy to paint these guys into a corner as some thing more; hard-nosed, no-nonsense, tirelessly dedicated to the job and nothing else. In reality, they were snared by feelings of isolation, reflection, jealousy, elation and wonder, just like anyone. The trip to the moon is a long one, so it probably shouldn’t come as such a surprise that the crew allowed themselves ample time for quiet, poetic rumination. For All Mankind is at its best while indulging such flights of fancy. Marveling at the dozens of campfires spread over the African continent after dark, each representing a unique Saharan tribe. Pondering the significance of it all whilst a stark, shrinking Earth is offset by a field of infinite darkness. Sharing a good private joke with the boys back in mission control. Enjoying the score of 2001: A Space Odyssey while screaming towards the unknown. It all serves as great imagination fuel that comforts, excites and broadens the mind.
Though it’s short on duration and light on background, For All Mankind provides a wealth of intellectual brain candy and frequent insights that border on the profound. It’s neat to contrast Armstrong and Aldrin’s dreamy observations from the first expedition with those of Harrison Schmitt on the last, but I’d have appreciated better orientation. It can be confusing to leap straight from the famous Apollo 13 near-disaster to another flight’s successful landing on the lunar surface, and that could’ve been avoided with a few simple captions. In the end, this well-regarded documentary contains a wonderful assortment of almost-lost footage that deserves to be preserved forever, but its presentation could’ve use some fine-tuning.
Earth is not a star! Earth is a planet!
The sun is a star!
How can astronauts get the basic concept of astronomy so wrong?!
It’s also very frustrating that the documentary jumps back and forth of the different Apollo missions.
Otherwise great insight.
I was always fascinated by the space race and the ultimate accomplishments made. I love watching the footage from the flights. Unfortunately this is all out of order in terms of chronology. The flights are mixed - at times footage from one, sound from another. Some isn't even from Apollo programm if I'm not mistaken. The don't show "A" flight to the moon, they show all at once. If you have no knowledge at all you won't even recognize which flight you're on at any given time. There is no info content at all. Worst of all are the overdub soundeffects. Not the radio traffic or the off commentary but things like footsteps and noises of the switches. I don't like that. This isn't supposed to be your typical documentary, I get that. But I wouldn't recommend it to someone who actually seeks knowledge about this period in history.
Shout by RyanBlockedParent2022-05-16T13:24:40Z
It is now 2022, and I never thought that 50 years ago, mankind has already explored the heaven to this extent. It makes me long for the future. How will humans explore the world in the coming decades?
Thanks to criterion collection for the 4K restoration of this film, tribute!