In the Shadow of the Moon

This bittersweet reminiscence about the Apollo program of the 1960s—the embodiment of JFK's dream of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth—combines often warm and funny interview clips with the astronauts (guess who took a pee while descending from the lunar lander?) with archival footage (including some rare scenes) of the decade-long endeavor. Most haunting are the new looks at the doomed Apollo 1 crew and the burnt remains of the capsule that became their fiery deathtrap, while the stills and film of the first earthrise that the Apollo 8 team witnessed are awesomely beautiful. Directed by David Sington, a producer for PBS's NOVA series, In the Shadow of the Moon won an audience award at Sundance in 2007, but for all of its out-of-the-world subject matter, it feels strangely small (and I say this as a devout space geek). Listening to these elderly men discuss the greatest adventure of their lives is thrilling—they're a compelling and charismatic bunch—but we can't help but be reminded of just how long it's been since humankind has acted with such audacious, optimistic boldness. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director David Sington, editor David Fairhead, and archive producer Chris Riley, 18 “Bonus Interviews and Stories” deleted and extended scenes (58 min. total), an 11-minute “Scoring Apollo” featurette with composer Philip Sheppard (11 min.), a “Ron Howard: Inspired by Apollo” interview with Apollo 13 filmmaker Howard (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a hefty extras package for a fine tribute.] (M. Johanson)