Nearly every month, speeding spaceships hurl heroes across uncharted regions of the universe on the silver screen. Yet, For All Mankind's zero-gravity action is anything but slick, and its heroes are careful, intelligent, and human. But the film is more impressive than any computer-created adventure. Narrating astronauts Jim Lovell, Michael Collins, Charles Conrad, Jack Swigert, and Ken Mattingly guide us on our cosmic trip, providing insights into their thoughts and emotions during their Apollo flights. Though we think of astronauts as serious men and women who are prepared for the space journey, our narrators offer their human perspectives. They are normal men and women who have an extraordinary opportunity, and they aren't immune to the emotional impact of space travel. Take the footage from the Apollo 13 mission, for example. There's a problem, and Lovell floats a flashlight for light as he assembles a contraption that will save his and his crew's lives. As soon as he's done, a hand reaches into frame and spins the suspended object. It's a life or death situation, but the awe of zero gravity is still in the forefront of the astronauts' minds. Then there's the strange fear that crept into one of the astronaut's nightmarish dream in which he lands on the moon only to find his doppelganger has been there for thousands of years.
The astronauts' honest commentary frames the film and allows Reinert to construct his narrative visually, without having to explain to us what is happening. The power is in the images -- the Saturn V rocket shedding its Earthly condensation skin as it explodes toward the moon, the surreal sight of a radio suspended in zero gravity, and the seemingly carefree joy of Armstrong and Aldrin skipping around the moon's lifeless surface like kids on a playground. Though For All Mankind is presented as a single space mission, Reiner seamlessly blends footage from all of the Apollo missions using Brian Eno's wonderful score as the glue holding it together. Though written five years before the film's release, Eno's ethereal blend of guitars, pianos, and futuristic synths keeps our interest in orbit.
Amazingly, Reiner packs this six million feet of footage and 80 hours of NASA interviews into a brisk 80 minutes. From the first scene, we're never allowed to take a breath. Whether we're in the command module, watching our floating heroes effortlessly tossing objects or chasing floating globs of liquid, or firmly planted in the NASA command center in Houston, eagerly awaiting a radio broadcast from the distant travelers, we are never given a moment to push aside our sense of wonder. Though the film acknowledges space's previous cinematic appearances (most notably by including the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey), For All Mankind is like looking at the night sky for the first time.
The re-issued Criterion release includes a new, high-definition digital transfer (with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition) and all of the supplements from the original release, including audio commentary featuring Reinert and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to set foot on the moon. New to this edition are a making-of documentary and a collection of Reinert's favorite on-screen interviews with 15 of the Apollo astronauts. Also available on Blu-ray.
