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Apollo 11

Movie Review by Joan Ellis –

Apollo 11

Watching an American crew landing on the moon fifty years ago stirred a complex mix of emotions in those of us who were alive and watching on our relatively new TV sets. We earthlings watched in deep curiosity as three men undertook a mission that riveted our world back then in 1969.

That perfect white ball of a moon had been a mystery for all the centuries we earthlings had loved its glow and suddenly we were watching three modern astronauts shuffle through moon sand. The fact that three capable men were chosen to fly to the moon on the wings of the new technology of the 50s is as absorbing now as it was then. As you watch, imagine what’s going on in the minds of Commander Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins and the crowd of experts bent over computers on the ground.

What Apollo 11 gives us is the whole picture in graphic detail. We follow the three from countdown to their final landing, to the planting of the flag, to their return. The most astonishing thing is that the return seems even more of a miracle than the initial flight. Their capsule takes off from the moon and must meet and couple mechanically to the other part they had left behind in space. At eighty-two miles in the air, the parts of their separated ship must recouple for the return to earth. Hundreds of assembled parts controlled so carefully by the men in the space headquarters all work exactly as designed.

The human side shows us the hundreds of men in suits and ties bent over their machines as they went over every detail of the flight. Everything seemed impossible and everything went perfectly. The complexity of why and how that worked is astonishing even today. Nothing in the construction, the design or the testing went wrong. During a flight of 240,000 miles, the complex rocket did exactly what it was built to do.

Those of us who watched them do this fifty years ago thought of it as step one in the exploration of space. Who would have thought fifty years would pass without further major spatial accomplishment? Who imagined their success would stand as the major realization of John Kennedy’s proposal to go to the moon? He never lived to see his hope accomplished.

The complexity of the process and the excitement of the victory are delivered to us in beautiful detail and color, thanks to modern techniques used to spruce up the quality of the old photography. It’s so well done that we realize that going to the moon was a fantasy that became a dream and then a reality in the hands of the hundreds of people who worked on it along with the three men who risked their lives. Together, they flew to the moon 31,000 miles from earth at 11,000 miles per second and not one thing went wrong.

Film Critic : Joan Ellis
Film Title : Apollo 11
Word Count : 501
Running Time : 1:33
Rating : G
Date : June 30,2019

Maiden

Movie Review by Joan Ellis –

Maiden

It is easy to tell you that “Maiden” is about the first all-woman crew in the in the round-the-world sailing race. It’s far harder to convey the astonishing quality of this documentary on all its many levels. Just go. The ingredients are overwhelming and they are assembled with masterful skill by director Alex Holmes who grabs us right away and never lets us go.

The opener: “The ocean’s always trying to kill you. It doesn’t take a break.” Tracey Edwards signs on for the only possible job she could win back then: cook. She does a good job of keeping the male crew healthy and happy. She’s a maid who is learning about racing.

Then her turn comes. She assembles nine dedicated, experienced women as crew for her dream race. No one will lend money to this crew in 1987. Mortgaging houses and taking loans, they buy a damaged old boat and spend a year scraping and repairing it while anyone hearing their plans just laughs. They are referred to by men as “a tin full of tarts.”

After more than three years of work, they set sail in September of 1989 with the crew still lacking confidence in their captain and suffering the laughter of anyone who knows what they are doing. First leg: Uruguay. “The land disappears and then it’s just you,” Edwards says and that stays with the theater audience that is now emotionally on board. To the astonishment of male crews, they arrive in Uruguay in third place. The questions they asked of themselves in the planning are different from those that float among men.

Our respect deepens as we see the icebergs and 20-degree wind chills in their path. When this skilled crew wins the first leg after 76 tough days at sea, men called it “a lucky leg.” During their 167 days at sea, they hit rough water they describe as “hitting a brick wall without your seatbelt on.” When the boat leaks, they fix it. Every unexpected danger brings new strength. And when it’s over they and the welcoming crowd in Southampton begin to understand what they’ve done by meeting and beating the unexpected demands of racing at sea for 167 days.

At movie’s end, the theater is silent for a moment before it erupts in applause. The whole film captures both the force and danger of nature and the strength and determination of these women who tackled a challenge the whole world thought they couldn’t meet. As if that isn’t enough, imagine the job of fitting together the film slices of the race, the storms and the problems that faced them every day.

The windup of this grand documentary shows us what happened when the world finally understood what these women did. They have risen beyond any possibility thought to exist for them in the 1980s, and their story is a knockout. Alex Holmes’s film is a stunning tribute to them and a grand experience for us.

Film Critic : Joan Ellis
Film Title : Maiden
Word Count : 501
Running Time : 1:37
Rating : PG
Date : June 23, 2019

This entry was posted on June 23, 2019, in Documentary.