Apollo 11 - Todd Douglas Miller
This is part of my unedited thoughts series
This isn’t a narrative documentary as we already know the outcome. This is more of a detailed look at the events we already know from a new angle.
Lots of the footage has likely been sitting in the archive since it was shot.
It is exciting, nail bitting and they build drama around all the big events we know and some of the events we don’t.
The biggest issue that I had with the film was the data that is displayed on the screen throughout much of the film.
The data shows different things such as fuel left in the burn. Very interesting and exciting and could add a whole lot to the visuals that we are seeing on the screen.
The problem was that the data was often presented microscopically. This is a real letdown.
With the opening shots of all the people on the beaches and inlets around the launch site, you remember how big a deal the launch was.
One of the parts that they used to add tension was early on. There was a hydrogen leak just before the astronaut boarding and the use of split screen makes this exciting.
The audio mixing could have been better. At times I struggled to make out what people were saying. Perhaps just poor quality of recording but if that’s the case don’t use it or use subtitles.
The huge amount of time that they spent up there hit home in the doco as they jump between the signing in and out of the different base crews after the craft is cruising towards the moon.
There is some great comic stuff as well. They lose signals from two of the respirators to which Buzz responds: “I’ll let you know if I stop breathing.”
The constant alarms as they descend to the surface of the moon are terrifying and they have very little – 3 mins – of fuel. Only 10 seconds left when they land. I squinted and I could see the number.
And then all the tension of the return. I didn’t realize that they spent 18 days in isolation on return. As the newsreader said – to ensure that they didn’t bring back any space germs. Hillarious.
It was an exciting film seeing inside the craft and the control rooms during the famous mission. The film was let down by the choices of audio and statistics that you couldn’t hear or see well.
Enjoyable overall but a little frustrating.
