For All Mankind

 

Story:

Director-journalist Al Reinert sifted through 6 million feet of film and 80 hours of interviews with astronauts to deliver a dazzling, Oscar-nominated documentary chronicling the American space program and its rush to put a man on the moon. With Brian Eno's atmospheric score, the film uncovers vibrant, never-before-seen footage of the space race, which ended in 1969 when Apollo 11 fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's challenge to NASA. (Netflix)

Review:

For All Mankind is an entertaining documentary that moves along at a nice pace, highlighting the compelling human aspects of space travel 1960s and showing off some amazing footage while doing it.

Some parts of the film unfortunately feel slightly like low-definition versions of their fictional sci-fi movie counterparts but the realness of both the film’s story and the film stock itself gives the documentary a great feel.

This lack of brilliantly clear footage is a downside of the film, yes, but I wonder how fair it is to call it a detractor as the filmmakers were restricted by what footage was available at the time.  In its defense, the film is competing with HD documentaries and numerous films about space that have been made in the last twenty or so years.  It's not unusual to see mission control footage anymore, and it's hard to think a viewer hasn't seen stock footage of a shuttle launch before watching this film.  That doesn’t mean the movie is less entertaining but it does take away some of its fire.

Despite having to compete with the multitude of other movies about outer space, one of the film’s best sequences came while discussing the mid-mission crisis aboard Apollo 13.  Even though the Ron Howard directed film version made the incident more famous than it already was, the portrayal of the incident in For All Mankind was really gripping.  This was partially due to the fact that you’re watching actual footage shot during the mission and you’re hearing the real-life astronauts speak about their plight.

The Apollo 13 sequence demonstrates that there’s something still really cool about how the documentary depicts the action, and it shows that the film has something none of its fictional counterparts can duplicate: the true human emotion encircling these historic missions.   The audio track comes directly from the recordings shot at the time and the various clips bring the audience that much closer to this small group of people and their amazing accomplishments.  (I should note that my only concern with the audio clips was it was difficult to know exactly who was speaking at various times and to which of the many missions depicted in the film they were referring).

For All Mankind gives you a front row seat to experience the lives of the astronauts both on earth and in space and that’s pretty amazing in itself.  You hear their thoughts while they gear up for their voyage and you watch them have so much fun in space that it almost looks like they might forget they’re up there to actually work.  It’s these moments of human passion that give the film it’s heart because they cannot be mimicked in films that might have glitzier production values.

For All Mankind is the real deal.  Whether or not it’s worth your time as a rental though is still somewhat of a toss-up.

Reviewed by Ryan Pollyea for Documentary Film Online on January 24, 2011

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