In the Shadow of the Moon film review

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IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON

The white heat of the space race was extinguished in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and his crew finally set a human foot on the moon. It was a victory the Americans had waited a long time for: the previous decade had seen their Communist enemies in the Soviet Union achieve just about every space first with reckless ease.

David Sington's new documentary examines events from the American side and specifically focusses on the astronauts themselves and their reactions to the incredible journeys they undertook. Thanks to some excellent restoration of previously unseen NASA archive footage of the trips, it's an entertaining and visually breathtaking affair.

But away from the high drama of the failed and successful landings comes the human tale. What's most extraordinary about the astronauts portrayed, now men in the evening of their lives and shot in frank talking heads style, is their sheer ordinariness. They could have ended up manning petrol stations but instead they found themselves embroiled in events that were in turn exciting, dangerous, political and often seemingly impossible.

The most jarring omission is Armstrong himself, but he has virtually all but given up publicly commenting on lunar matters. Sington also sidesteps the huge technological challenges that were overcome, a subject that in itself would - and indeed has - undoubtedly fill another film.

In the Shadow of the Moon is not only educational but cleverly diverting, with reams of glorious footage that shows just how spellbound the men that manned the rockets must have felt. They remain spellbound today and their enthusiasm is uplifting.

Paul Hurley