This documentary takes a look at the Unites States’ successful efforts to land a man on the moon, as well as five other missions that also reached the moon.

CRITIQUE

In The Shadow of the Moon is a very solid documentary that blends archival footage with interviews with the surviving astronauts (of which there are a surprising number) to weave a compelling tale of the United States space program, specifically the missions that wound up with United States astronauts reaching the moon, not once but five times.  Though some of these tales have been individually dramatized before, this is a nice 100-minute overview that is compelling and intriguing throughout.

The best decision here is that, rather than detail the Apollo missions in order (which would have made everything after Apollo 13 feel like an anticlimax), they deal with all the missions at once.  This means that when the film deals with the preparation for the missions, all the surviving astronauts talk about their specific missions; when the movie moves on to the launch and the flight to the moon, all the astronauts talk about their experiences.  This makes it feel less about the individual flights and more about the overall experience, which seems to suit the subject matter well.

The film starts off with the genesis of the space program and John Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s, something that he wasn’t around to see through but which was accomplished anyway.  It’s interesting to hear how all the astronauts were involved in various aspects of the space program, each assigned to learn about a different part of the craft; the movie also touches on the tragic deaths of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test.

But it’s the visuals that really make this sing, as well as all the old footage, from TV interviews to images captured by cameras on the spaceship and then on the moon.  The build-up to the first moon landing (Apollo 11) is intriguing, and the two surviving astronauts from that mission (Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins) both do a good job filling in the blanks about what was going on and how they were feeling as Neil Armstrong took his first steps onto the moon.

Ultimately, this might be one of the best examples of a movie for everyone; anyone who was alive when this happened will be thrown back into memories, while anyone younger will find that this is history that is about as exciting as it comes.

THE VIDEO

In The Shadow of the Moon is presented in 16x9 and in full frame.  The shots of the astronauts today are beautifully photographed, while the older footage in integrated well.

THE AUDIO

In The Shadow of the Moon is presented in English Dolby.  Dialogue, music and other sounds come through clear.  There are English and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

There is a Filmmaker Commentary featuring director David Singleton, editor David Fairhead and archive producer Chris Ray.  They talk interestingly about how they put the film together, and where they got the footage; a lot came from the NASA vault, where it hadn’t been looked at for years.

There are a full 57 minutes of Deleted and Extended Scenes, footage that was simply just cut for time; most of it is just as good as what is in the film.  It gets deeper into some of the missions, particularly Apollo 9 and 10.

There is an optional, brief Introductory Message from producer Ron Howard before the film.

There is an 11-minute Featurette on the Scoring of the movie, in which composer Philip Sheppard talks about his thought processes, and there are a lot of shots of the orchestra at work.

FINAL THOUGHT

In The Shadow of the Moon is worth seeing for anyone of any age.