Blu-Review of the Week - 7/24/09 - For All Mankind
Blu-Review of the
Week – 7/24/09
For All Mankind
(1989)
This week marks the 40th Anniversary of man’s
first landing on the moon. It was
a truly historic event, and those that witnessed it will never forget where
they were when they saw Neil Armstrong take his first steps and declare “One
small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” On July 14, 2009, the Criterion Collection released For All
Mankind on Blu-ray, a one of a kind documentary on all twenty-four men who have
traveled to the moon in our history.
I had already planned on buying it since I’m such a fan of the Criterion
releases. Having bought and
watched the likes of The Man Who Fell to Earth, Chunking Express and The Third
Man, I was very happy with their entry into the Blu-ray format. With incredible films and very solid
discs to boot, I was excited to sit down and watch For All Mankind.
MOVIE – 8.5/10
Not knowing much (okay, really anything) about this film
going in, I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew it was a documentary about our trips to the moon, but
I had seen all that before. What
made this one so special, and it’s a Criterion Collection release….really?
The film was directed by Al Reinert. This was the first film he ever
did. He never made it big as a
director, but he did go on to write the screenplay for Apollo 13 as well as
writing two episodes of From the Earth to the Moon. (he even wrote Final
Fantasy: The Spirits Within)
This is not your average documentary on space travel. This is truly an amazing work of
art. You’re not going to learn
about the history of the space missions, or the names of the people involved,
or the exact timeline of the events that changed history. Instead, what you get is an 80 minute
film with incredible imagery shot by the astronauts themselves, and accounts of
their experiences straight from their mouths. The voices are not identified, and only the hardcore space
program enthusiasts will know who they are seeing and hearing for the most
part. No one person is singled
out, and every astronaut and NASA control crewman back on land are looked as a
giant team of people who did amazing things. There is awesome footage from Cape Canaveral; from mission
control to the launch pad. The
launch footage is spectacular, and there are truly breathtaking scenes from the
astronauts in space and on the moon itself. The film is made even better with the moving score by the
one and only Brian Eno. I’ve been a
fan of Brian’s score work ever since I saw Se7en, and 28 Days Later has one of
my favorite film scores in horror (if not all) history. Imagine my unbelievable shock when I
heard “Ending (Ascent)” in For All Mankind. This beautifully haunting track (which was my favorite from
28 Days Later) is featured prominently in this film, which was made 14 years
earlier! His score adds a strong
since of wonder, exploration, eeriness and accomplishment to this unforgettable
film. This is truly a piece of art
as great film should be. I highly
recommend it.
VIDEO – 6.5/10
This film was released in 1989, but was all shot during the
nine Apollo missions between the years of 1968 and 1972. It was shot on film in the 1:33:1
aspect ratio (4:3 with black pillar bars on the sides of the 16:9 screen). As expected, it’s not one of the best
transfers on the market. They did
go to great lengths to clean up the print as much as possible and I must say
they did a stellar job. There are
very little film scratches, dirt or tears in the film. The restoration job was painstaking and
definitely worth it. Their effort
is much appreciated. That being
said, film grain is heavily apparent.
This obviously isn’t a flaw in the transfer; it’s the most accurate
representation of the footage as it was shot in the late 60’s and early
70’s. However, I’m not really the
type to rate this high in the video category just because they did a great job
with the restoration. There really
isn’t much detail in the shots, and never once (okay…maybe once or twice) could
I actually tell that I was watching a Blu-ray. Again, I hate to rip this transfer, but you would never,
ever put this one in to impress your buddies. Bottom Line.
AUDIO – 7/10
We do get a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, which is a
touch better than the video. The
surrounds and subwoofer certainly aren’t working too hard as 85% of the audio
comes from the front, but it’s still pretty solid given the source material. The voices are clear for the most part
and easy to understand, and Brian Eno’s soundtrack shines and makes me wish I
had a copy in my Zune for sure (update: just found it and LOVE it!). All in all it’s well done, if just a
bit underwhelming.
EXTRAS 8.5/10
The bonus features I like most are those that add to the
movie’s experience and make me appreciate it even more. The Criterion Collection releases are
known for putting a lot of effort into the supplements on their discs, and For
All Mankind is certainly no exception.
There is a good amount of material (over 1 ½ hours) and most of it is
just as engaging as the film itself.
- Booklet
Criterion is famous for their booklets. The one found in For All Mankind is
well presented and has some very insightful information. With essays by film critic Terrence
Rafferty and director Al Reinert himself, there is a lot to learn about how the
film was created. It’s a quick
read and very well worth it.
- Identifications
If you would like, you can watch the film with on-screen
titles that identify the astronauts and mission control specialists throughout
the viewing. I would highly
recommend watching the film the way it was intended first, but I also highly
suggest checking it out this way as well.
I figured I was only going to watch a few minutes to see what it was like,
and I ended up watching the entire film again. I found that I had been so wrapped up in the visuals and the
music during my first viewing that it was almost like watching it for the first
time, and this time really concentrating on the astronauts stories and being
able to identify who was doing and saying what. This was excellent and highly recommended.
- An Accidental Gift – The Making of For All Mankind (32:00)
This was my favorite extra on the disc. It’s insightful and entertaining. They go into detail on how NASA dealt
with filmmaking and how many inventions they created in the process to capture
the footage that they needed. All
of the original film reels are handled with extreme care, and are even kept
frozen deep in the NASA film vaults.
The films have never left the building ever. Everything we are used to seeing are copies made of
copies. Al Reinert was the first
to be able to use the actual film reels (after three days of thawing) to
transfer the shots he needed.
Pretty amazing stuff. This
making of also talks about Reinert and how he became interested and involved in
NASA, working first as a newspaper reporter and going on to write the
screenplay for Apollo 13. There
are other fascinating pieces in here on training the astronauts how to use the
film cameras, and the amount of planning that went into getting all of their
shots. All in all this is a must
watch if you get your hands on this disc (as you should!).
- NASA Audio Highlights
Here you get 21 soundbites from the first 10 years of the
American space program. It
includes Alan Shepard’s historic first ride into space and the last words on
the moon during the Apollo 17 mission.
There are all kinds of interesting pieces here, including some of the
distress calls on Apollo 13 and other missions that had surprises.
- On Camera (20:35)
This is a compilation of on-camera interviews with fifteen
of the astronauts pulled from various other films and television programs. Doesn’t really have anything to do with
the film itself, but it is always interesting hearing stories from the
astronauts experiences on the moon.
- Paintings from the Moon (37:00)
This extra centers around Alan Bean, an astronaut on Apollo
12 and the fourth man to walk on the moon. It starts with a separate 8 minute intro in which he talks
about how he got into art and decided to start painting from his
experiences.
Then, one by one we go through his paintings (which are
amazing) while he talks about them both from a historical as well as artistic
standpoint. This is a little long
seen as how we are just looking at paintings, but some of Alan’s stories are
very interesting.
- 3, 2, 1…Blast Off (2:35)
This is a quick but amazing collection of launch footage
from the various Apollo missions.
- Audio Commentary
A feature length commentary by director Al Reinert and
Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan who was the last man to set foot on the
moon.
FINAL VERDICT
For All Mankind is truly a piece
of art that helps document some of the most important events in the history of
mankind. If you are even the least
bit interested in space travel or moon landings this is absolutely an essential
watch. The way the film is put
together is not like bland documentaries on the subject. Rather, it’s a journey that we get to
take with all of the Apollo missions acting as one. I watched most of this film in absolute awe (as you could
probably tell from all of my adjectives in this review), and I can only hope
that you do the same. Criterion has
done another brilliant job on Blu-ray, and I will continue to buy every disc
they release if they keep putting this amount of care and heart behind
them. I can’t suggest this release
enough! It’s what I like to call a NO-BRAINER!
FINAL SCORE – 8.5/10 – BUY!
