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If you're old enough to remember July 20, 1969, you'll always remember exactly where you were when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon remarking, "That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind." What a mind-blowing event that was—beautiful, inspiring, yet surreal and difficult to believe that it was actually happening, especially considering that we were getting a live television feed from the surface of the moon! Fact is, many still didn't believe their eyes and insist to this very day that NASA faked the whole thing, and that those pictures were actually televised from Arizona.
NASA achieved the impossible dream challenge issued by President John F. Kennedy at Rice University on September 12, 1962, just three weeks after Alan Shepherd became the first American into Space:
"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
...And this will be done in the decade of the sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the term of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade."
Whether Kennedy made this bold challenge for political reasons or because he was a dreamer remains irrelevant. Not only did NASA reach the goals outlined by President Kennedy, but they recorded the Apollo missions in comprehensive detail to feed data hungry scientists and inadvertently supply some of the most beautiful cinematography ever for filmmaker Al Reinert to sift through to craft the documentary For All Mankind, now brilliantly preserved with the Criterion treatment on DVD that serves as an inspiring testament to man's ability to achieve the "impossible" dream.
In one sense, it's safe to call this documentary the most expensive film of all time, since it derives entirely from NASA archive footage, backed by the U.S. government for several billion dollars. Although everyone is well aware of the extensive cameras used for Apollo 11 (including on board cameras, television cameras, specially designed cameras for stereoscopic moon shots, and three Hasselblad 500Els), each Apollo mission was well photographed and filmed to help rocket scientists analyze the craft's performance. Most amazing are shots taken outside the ship with cameras that plunged back into the ocean with signaling devices, allowing ships to scoop up a number of them.
Reinert deserves accolades for coming up with the concept of creating a ninety-minute documentary of the Apollo missions through selective editing of the exhaustive footage gathered between 1968 and 1972, which sent twenty-four astronauts to the moon. Using superior film technology, he and his crew are able to actually improve the NASA footage, removing some jerkiness and adjusting the color to make a definitive and entertaining overall record of the Apollo mission. Just the liftoff footage alone mesmerizes�slowly the Saturn rocket rises above the fiery volcano belching beneath the platform as sheets of dry ice falls from the ship, and the trip to the moon begins.
By editing essentially one chronological mission from the nine lunar missions, Reinert is able to select the most interesting footage and transforms ordinary archive footage into an entertaining and educational spectacle. Mixing the footage renders the astronauts virtually anonymous (Kubrick was right!) since the personnel continually changes in-flight. Although this may disorient a few viewers expecting to see and hear Neil Armstrong throughout, this creates a far more dynamic film—a virtual highlights reel of the very best space travel cinematography ever recorded. Not only do we see the spectacular first space walk (actually Ed White from the Gemini missions), incredible views of Earth looking like a shimmering blue marble contrasting with utter blackness, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bouncing on the moon, but we also see the concerned looks on the Apollo 13 astronauts when troubles commence.
Much is reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey—the blackness of space, the weightlessness, the silent mechanics of docking—but continually you are reminded that these real astronauts doing their jobs are not actors. Helping that aspect is the narrative track that includes twelve of the Apollo astronauts describing the activities like they are home movies—even they have difficulty realizing the enormity of their accomplishments. But Christopher Columbus similarly had no idea what forces he had unleashed with his journey to the New World either.
A couple of other themes emerge as the astronauts recall the Apollo missions. Universally they declare what a team effort the project was—how they had no idea how all the technology worked and couldn't come close to figuring out the maze of scientific calculations required to make the mission successful, but they knew how to perform their part and the cause for failure. Additionally, each lunar astronaut came back with a stronger spiritual sense, including navy fighter pilots. It's impossible to gaze at the Earth from a distant perspective and not be simultaneously be awed by its beauty and its relative smallness in the vastness of space.
The same goes to a lesser degree for viewers of this remarkable documentary. Visually stunning, For All Mankind bears repeated watching, and is enhanced with some nice Criterion extras—an art gallery painted by Apollo astronaut Alan Bean and an audio commentary with director and Eugene A. Cernan, the last human to step on the moon, that reveals details behind the documentary, like identifying the one manufactured shot for the film. Like The Right Stuff, the documentary captures much of the spirit behind the mission, and leaves a sense of wonder with its awe-inspiring intimate views. A number of documentaries are released on anniversary dates to commemorate Neil Armstrong's momentous 1969 step for mankind, but Reinert's film captures its essence best. We can't all be as fortunate as the twenty-four men who visited the moon up close and personal, but For All Mankind serves as the next best thing. It may even spark a new dream for the viewer.
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