Apollo 11

Meticulously assembled by director Todd Douglas Miller and a team of archivists/editors, this new documentary delves into the details of NASA space exploration, particularly tracing the landmark Apollo 11 mission from launch to splashdown, recapturing the suspense, excitement, and drama of Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” a half-century ago. Beginning with the crawler-transporter hauling the massive Saturn V rocket to the Cape Kennedy launch pad, Apollo 11 outlines the complicated tasks that the team had to execute in order to succeed in their historic eight-day mission, inspired by John F. Kennedy’s rousing 1961 challenge: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon—and returning him safely to Earth.” Newly incorporated archival material includes scenes of the three astronauts donning their spacesuits, the 500 men and one woman (JoAnn Morgan) in Mission Control, and the subsequent 18-day quarantine after the astronauts returned to Earth. As Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin move around the lunar surface, they attempt to describe what they’re seeing and experiencing, so there’s a remarkably effective “you are there” feeling. The film utilizes stunning 65mm footage and excerpts from 11,000 hours of uncatalogued Mission Control audio recordings that were discovered in the National Archives, employing split-screens and countdown clocks, all set to Matt Morton’s background score. Marking Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary, this immersive cinematic achievement is an excellent companion to Damien Chazelle’s First Man, the 2018 Armstrong bio-pic, starring Ryan Gosling. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Discovering the 65MM” featurette on the digitizing of archival footage (3 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus digital copy of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a fine documentary.] (S. Granger)