Inspired by the moon

In the shadows of the moon.
film website
My friend Sam told me about this movie when we were hanging out on Friday.
I was pretty dazed and confused since it was at a birthday shindig with way too much party juice on ice.

I remember vaguely that the film is about the Apollo project during the 60s - 70s and all the footage from NASA had been remastered. Despite my fuzzy memory, I was keen to go check it out since it was screened at the Chauvel. (The Chauvel usually has a good selection of films)

The film's co-producer and assistant director, Chris Riley said, "the extraterrestrial film footage, shot by the astronauts themselves, has been brought out of storage only a handful of times since the 60s & 70s." The footage is considered so unique and valuable, that the original film is stowed under liquid nitrogen!

The story is quite riveting, with intimate interviews conducted with various personalities involved with the Apollo project recounting how important the project has been to the US during their involvement. It was a volatile time for the US and it was like the last straw for the country to count on coming out on top. When Chris first encountered this archive in the late 90s, he declares it felt like he was entering an Aladdin's of footage.

While I was watching the film, it brought up a lot of questions in my head. Aside fromt he amazing acheivement of sending men to the moon to realise President Kennedy's dream, the intelligence shared within the Apollo program, it was simply mind blowing. I think the footage serves as a prompt reminder on how much science has contributed to our society and it is not just about freaks and geeks taking over the world. The curiosity inspired creations such as space exploration has united the world back in the 60s and it was one of the first time, the world felt like it was united and the achievement was a group effort. As Neil Armstrong had said when he first landed on the moon, "This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind".

I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I think the collective of 60s footage was just awesome and the random introduction of ads during that period of commercialism was hiliarious too, like the prime time spot during the Apollo11 launch count down was brought to you by Kellog's! The sales pitch was just so frank, I think it is rather refreshing.

It is definitely one of the best documentary films I had seen in a long and it was educational, even after a big night of partying I felt much more refreshed at the end of the film.

For more info on the film, please visit the website