One must, I suppose, reluctantly acknowledge that there is nothing formally innovative or structurally experimental in David Sington's documentary on the Apollo space programme, writes Donald Clarke.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON ****
Directed by David Sington.G cert, limited release, 100 min
What we have here is a series of talking heads interspersed with archive footage, often very familiar, of docking spacecraft, technicians hunched over tiny monitors and ordinary citizens looking nervously to the heavens. Big deal?
Well, yes it is a big deal. In the Shadow of the Moon, which features contributions from 10 surviving astronauts, provides a bracingly moving commentary on a series of personal and technological accomplishments that, even today, seem scarcely believable. The heroes of the film, all established test pilots or scientists at the time of their adventures, are old men now, but, no man having stood on the moon since 1972, they still seem more modern than the rest of us.
Their achievements result from the careering optimism that characterises all that is best and - to briefly interject some sourness - all that is most disruptive in the American psyche. We can go to the moon by the end of the decade. We can build a railroad across a continent. We can eradicate all the world's terrorism through military means.
Sington forswears a voice-over and allows the men to tell their own stories. What yarns they are. Buzz Aldrin, accompanied by footage of his younger self balanced on the landing module's ladder, reveals that he relieved his bladder right before placing his foot on the surface. Mike Collins, who remained in moon orbit while Aldrin and Neil Armstrong bounced about the craters, calmly talks us through the most absolute isolation any man has known. The most arresting footage features a glutinous address by President Nixon to be broadcast if the astronauts failed to make it home. Collins, a man of sober wisdom, dismisses it as PR baloney.
It seems somehow appropriate that Neil Armstrong, one of the last century's wonderful enigmas, refused to participate. The great recluse, thus, continues to retain his mystery, but, whatever gibbering psychotics may believe, he does exist and he did walk on the moon. An epilogue in which the astronauts decry the conspiracy theory suggesting the Apollo landing was all staged in a warehouse, offers those fruitcakes more respect than they rightfully deserve. However unlikely the truth may be, it is still more credible than that pernicious lie.
