Thursday, January 10, 2008

Movies

Director: David Sington
Cast: Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Michael Collins
Rating: PG (Mild Violence/Adult Language)
 

Review Summary

When the Apollo 11 astronauts toured the world after their July 1969 moon landing, recalls Mike Collins, the pilot of the mission’s command module, he heard the phrase “We did it” everywhere they went. The “we,” he remembers in David Sington’s documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon,” didn’t refer to Americans, or to any nationality, but to the human race. Millions around the world who had watched on television as men walked on the moon for the first time felt that they had participated in a great adventure that ennobled the species. If Mr. Collins’s recollections make you swell with vicarious pride, they may also make you shudder. When was the last time the wonders of technology received such wholehearted endorsement? If today’s world is even more strife-torn than the world of 1969, when the Vietnam War was raging, one reason may be that the same technology that produced Apollo 11 has since come under a cloud. That’s why “In the Shadow of the Moon” is such a morale booster. The power of its archival images hasn’t diminished with familiarity. — Stephen Holden, The New York Times


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Movie Details

NYT Critics' Pick
Title: In the Shadow of the Moon
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Status: Released
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Historical, Documentary, Foreign

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