Review of "Apollo 11": The lunar mission of 1969 still has the power to thrill

The documentary "Apollo 11", directed and edited by Todd Douglas Miller, is quite impressive. Which is a surprise. In the course of the world events of the 20th century, Apollo 11, NASA's 1969 mission that placed two men on the moon, has been extensively documented. It has also been dissected in a fictitious way, most recently by Damien Chazelle, whose film "First Man" of 2018 is a portrait of Neil Armstrong, commander of the mission and, of course, the first man to walk on the moon. . In addition to chronicling this triumph, this film examines Armstrong's emotional reticence.

Miller's documentary indirectly shows why such quality is appreciated by astronauts. Starting with images of a tracked carrier pulling the Saturn V rocket towards the Cape Canaveral launch pad, and Walter Cronkite's new oratory providing the only open narrative montage that the film will use, "Apollo 11" impartially outlines how much is needed for this mission to be accomplished. And like many things that could go wrong, the film also implies that it only gives you the tip of the iceberg in this regard.

The film consists mainly of newly discovered archive images, some of which have never been seen before. But Miller does not rely entirely on him. It uses simple but effective white-on-black graphics, graphical animations and, occasionally, split-screen footage to highlight particularly painful maneuvers, to capture the complexities of the actions the team has to take. Apollo 11 had to execute with such precision. The impact is almost mind-boggling. On the way back, the crew burst out a little more, listening to a weightless cassette player that emits a folk-country melody. "Mother Country" by John Stewart.