http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/reviews/2007/intheshadowofthemoon.html
In the far-flung span of human history, only twelve men have ever stepped on
the surface of another celestial body. And yet, somehow we have managed to
convince ourselves that such acts of mind-boggling ingenuity and stunning
heroism are now commonplace.
The new documentary, In the Shadow of the Moon, reminds us all that America's
space program is nothing short of astonishing and that humankind's venture into
the vast, freezing abyss of outer space is one of the most extraordinary and
significant moments in the history of our species. It celebrates the know-how
of thousands of engineers and the derring-do of dozens of astronauts who
embraced the most audacious act of outlandish genius ever proposed.
In the Shadow of the Moon scoured NASA's film vaults, coming away with a
treasure trove of archival footage. Gone are the overused, iconic images so
familiar to all of us. The filmmakers digitally re-mastered footage sealed in
bins for more than three decades, much of it of such breathtaking quality and
magisterial beauty that it is almost unthinkable that it has gone unseen until
now.
In the Shadow of the Moon is a shimmering tribute to the brave men who, almost
half a century ago, made the unthinkable a reality. Concentrating exclusively
on the Apollo Program, the documentary eschews narration and simply lets the
film progress through interviews with all of the remaining Apollo astronauts,
minus its "team captain" and the first man to set foot on the Moon, the
notoriously camera shy Neil Armstrong. Some of the astronauts are staid and
stoic, paradigms of professionalism. Others, like Alan Bean and Michael
Collins, are fun and animated, like children fresh off an amusement park ride.
These are the coolest guys alive, yet you'd never know it from their
unassuming and self-deprecating demeanors. The space program comes to life
through their humanizing reminiscences. They admit, through voices that
occasionally crack with emotion, that they often have to pinch themselves to
make sure it wasn't all a dream. "I called the moon my home for three days of
my life," says Gene Cernan. "Now that's science fiction!"
The film traces the space race from its earliest birth pains to its most
magnificent triumphs. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set an impossibly
audacious goal before the American people: send a man to the Moon and return
him safely back to Earth before the close of the decade. Tragically, Kennedy
never lived to see his inspirational words plucked from the air and fashioned
into the steel, wiring and propellant that would, just eight years later, send
us racing into lunar orbit and beyond.
It's not as if there was any sort of guarantee that the newly formed National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would be successful. Kennedy's
national dare was the stuff of science fiction. Placing a man on top of a giant
rocket sounded ludicrous at the time. "It was a quick way to have a short
career," Jim Lovell recalls.
The astronaut corps was cobbled together from daredevil test pilots always on
the lookout for new ways to go faster, higher, further. Engineers using slide
rules and legal pads went to work designing and building the most sophisticated
machines ever constructed. Nothing close to this had ever been attempted, and
the intrepid scientists had no choice but to blaze a new, uncharted frontier.
The film follows the engineers and astronauts through the design,
construction, training and implementation phase of the program. Though the
outcome is well known, the film does a magnificent job of building tension into
an enterprise that was fraught with uncertainty. When the first Saturn rocket
plunged into space with a crew aboard, even the astronauts admit they were
surprised.
"It was a time when we made bold moves," Lovell says, realizing that scientific
and technological advances are made possible only by walking the knife's edge.
For those in the Apollo program, hazards and peril were around every corner.
Tragedy struck on what would come to be known as Apollo 1 when a launch pad
fire killed Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a drill. And
President Richard Nixon recorded a never-aired statement in case the crew of
Apollo 11 was marooned forever on the moon's surface.
When the Eagle's landing pads made contact with lunar sediment on July 20,
1969, the world stood still. Across the globe, human civilization rejoiced as
one. This was not an American achievement, the astronauts explain, it was a
human achievement. Between 1968 and 1972, nine Apollo spacecraft journeyed to
the moon, and a dozen men walked on its surface. As America imploded beneath
the trauma of war, assassinations and divisive social unrest, the Apollo
program was said to have redeemed the entire decade.
For all their courage and scientific acumen, the astronauts of Apollo fumble
with and in due course abandon using technical jargon to describe their
other-worldly experiences. Ultimately, rationality cannot illuminate what is a
metaphysical voyage of discovery. So it should come as no surprise that, in
Shadow's final moments, the moonwalkers' speech alters into something far more
elegiac, whimsical and fundamentally spiritual. They are the first to say that
they are nothing specialblessed men who just happened to be in the right place
at the right time. But to a man, they have been changed. They exude a modest,
philosophical side that comes, one assumes, from having left our world and
viewed it, in all of its fragility, from afar.
Some speak of our connectedness to the universe, others the need to protect and
cherish the environment. Several of the astronauts describe a categorical
belief in God and his sacred, creative hand in fashioning the cosmos. Jim
Lovell, Frank Borman, and William Anders, aboard Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve,
1968, transmit a message in what was the most watched television broadcast to
date: "For all the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would
like to send you: 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
'"
Charlie Duke recounts returning to Earth after his mission, attending Bible
studies and soon after giving his life over to Christ. "My walk on the moon
lasted three days," he says, "My walk with God will last forever."
British director David Sington has crafted an awe-inspiring film suffused with
reverence and wonder. In the Shadow of the Moon is one of those rare films with
the power to coax tears and goosebumps from even the most jaded viewer. Its
scope is so grand, it subject so inspirational, that audiences can't help but
leave the theater staggered by the monumental human achievement it recounts.
Following a dozen or so more missions in the next few years, America's
remaining space shuttles will be permanently retired. At that time, NASA will
turn its energies, once again, toward the moon. Engineers are already hard at
work designing the Ares rockets that will hurl the Orion crew exploration
vehiclethe technological progeny of Apollointo outer space. However, this
time the moon is not the ultimate goal, but a stepping-stone to something far
more extraordinarya human footprint on the scarlet soil of Mars.
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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