For All Mankind
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 space mission and humankind's first steps on the moon. From the first words, to first images, to the first Presidential phone call- this event would forever be cemented in history and popular culture. No one who saw the event, would ever forget it. One such person was director, Al Reinert, whose award winning documentary, For All Mankind, includes 80 minutes of real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s all the while focusing on the human aspects, views, and emotions of the space flights.
Below is a special message from Criterion Collection CEO, Jonathon Turell on the journey and significance of For All Mankind:
I was nine when the Apollo 11 Eagle landed on the moon. I remember vividly watching it on a small black-and-white TV at sleepaway camp that summer of 1969. I’ve been hooked on the space program ever since. Just about twenty years ago, a friend told me he had seen a rough cut of a new space movie and I should see it. I got a tape and watched For All Mankind for the first time. It was unlike anything I had seen before, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. I met Al Reinert and we became friends. Janus Films helped to finish the film, and I became an associate producer as we completed the movie. For All Mankind was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary—losing out to Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt. It played festivals around the world. There was a special screening for NASA and the astronauts in Galveston, Texas, and the film showed at the Air and Space Museum at the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the moon landing.
We started working on the laserdisc release of For All Mankind before the film was complete, and I traveled to Houston to meet Al and interview Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean for inclusion on the disc. Bean’s comments were so good that Al recut the film to include a wonderful story about piloting the lunar module in orbit around moon. Meeting one of the astronauts who walked on the moon is still one of the greatest thrills of my life. Last year, when we began working on our Blu-ray release of For All Mankind, we got in touch with Bean again and asked him to participate. He happily agreed to update the feature on his paintings and also to sit down and talk with us about a subject I had become very interested in—science versus art. I wanted to explore the question of whether the astronauts (or the people at NASA) realized they were shooting some of the most artistic images ever recorded (and now some of the most famous) or if it was really all about moon rocks and beating the Russians. This second meeting with Bean didn’t disappoint; he says some wonderful things that are included on the disc. When we finished taping our interview session, he gave me a ride to lunch. The famous Apollo 12 Corvette is gone, replaced by a truck to carry his paintings, but that ten-minute ride will stay with me forever. He talked about walking on the moon; I talked about what movies I like. It didn’t seem quite parallel—for him it was an interesting conversation, for me, it was an audience with a hero.
Over the years, I think I’ve seen every film and TV miniseries about the Apollo program (at least twice), but for me For All Mankind still stands apart. It is unique in its poetic approach and ability to capture the pure emotion of the greatest journey of our time. --Amanda
Brian Macker on July 15, 2009 at 06:46 PM
I see, so taxing US citizens in order to pursue a space race with the USSR and to glorify US as better than the rest of the world was all about the rest of the world. "For All Mankind", that just doesn't fly.
Mike Smith on July 15, 2009 at 06:58 PM
Congratulations, Brian, you win the prize for today's stupidest Internet comment.
wm on July 15, 2009 at 07:17 PM
Brian, no.
People all over the planet spontaneously embraced the moon landing *as their own accomplishment.*
Evidence? It may be anecdotal, but here are accounts of how people all over the world reacted to the Eagle's landing:
http://www.wherewereyou.com/frames/intl.html
These stories require more than the usual carping to dismiss. Glory is a pretty apt reward for a success as unprecedented and risky as Apollo; of course, you seek to diminish the landing's risk and achievement by spinning it as an act of insecurity.
Apollo may ultimately prove to have been a failure, in that it discouraged us from making incremental steps to a permanent presence in space; but ironically, your attempt to spin the Apollo landing into an act of hubris takes *the success of* the Apollo landings at face value!
You, right here, show that you are actually uncritical about the success of Apollo! Unbelievable!
Gibbering Madness on July 15, 2009 at 07:31 PM
Buried in the credits at the end of "For All Mankind":
...
Filmed on location.
...
Jeff on July 15, 2009 at 07:55 PM
The USA is better than the rest of the world.
Brian Macker on July 15, 2009 at 08:45 PM
Hey, Mike, I lived through the times and it certainly was about getting to the moon first. You are just an ignoramus. It all started with Sputnik. Pick up a book sometime. The Russians weren't exactly happy we got their first. Ever hear the phrase "Race to the moon?"
WM, you missed my point. I didn't think it was about hubris at all. It didn't fail after all. Sure some Colombian citizen might be proud that men were able to accomplish this. It wasn't however funded by Colombians, nor was it done with Colombians in mind, nor achieved by Colombians. Nor any of the countries that were having famines at that time.
I don't think the starving Africans of the times put it high on their priority list of things they needed. Especially given that they didn't even have TVs.
Any of you geniuses ever notice how no other country has bother with the expense of a manned moon landing since? Ever cross your minds that it just isn't worth the expense when there are other things to attend to.
Kennedy in his speeches trying to justify the program glorified the expense of the mission and the fact that it would "impress mankind". He also spoke of how we were going to "win this race".
The program was all about the aggrandizement of the US government at the expense of the taxpayer. It was pyramid building at it's finest.
I think the pyramids are just swell achievements also. Let's just not pretend they were done for all mankind, or that all mankind paid for, or deserves credit for them.
I humbly suggest that any such future project be funded with voluntary contributions.
Peg C. on July 16, 2009 at 02:58 AM
Brian thinks any inventions and innovations of mankind are bad because of less than altruistic motives. He and all lefties would have us living in the stone age forever. Brian, self-interest drives every single thing human beings do. We strive (and make war) in large part out of self-interest and a competitive drive. Plenty of people and whole cultures don't achieve - but without the ones who do, whatever their motives, mankind does not advance. Brian, what do you think drives medical and technological breakthroughs? The U.S. has been at the forefront of all of this. Get your head on straight. Your ilk is holding us back.
And this absolutely was and is "for all mankind." Our future and our salvation are ultimately in space, not on earth. It is not only short-sighted and small-minded to fight space exploration and expense, it is nihilistic. It is to believe humans are not worth saving by enabling them ultimately to escape earth and live and thrive "out there." If the bulk of my taxes was going to space exploration rather than what they are wasted on I'd be ecstatic. We had a government 50 years ago with courage and foresight. We certainly have none of that now. Space exploration now for the most part is left to private individuals to continue. NASA seems to be in the grip of mostly red tape and mediocre political minds (a redundancy, I know).
I was 15 and on the French Riviera as part of a huge French study tour that summer when the 1969 moon landing occurred. We were up watching TV in the hotel lobby with most other guests in the middle of the night when this occurred. It was amazing and breathtaking. The world got a glimpse of what humans were capable of. This couldn't happen in this era because of the small, closed minds of so many (mostly Americans, sadly). I've never seen "For All Mankind" but definitely will buy the Blu-Ray version for the whole family to enjoy. I want the kids to experience the miracle those of us who witnessed it live experienced.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on July 16, 2009 at 03:52 AM
"For All Mankind" is one of the most moving films ever made, and one of the most amazing feats of storytelling. It's just NASA film, and astronaut comments--no narration, no graphics, no recreations or reenactments.
Glorious--like the accomplishment it documents.
Hal C on July 16, 2009 at 07:12 AM
Hey, Brian, I lived through those times, too. You're full of it. There was a war on, and getting to the moon first was just part of the battle. The fact that we did it, and expanded the role of science in doing so was just part of the triumph of that accomplishment.
Yeah, I remember the "money could be better spent feeding the poor in Africa" comments. But on the whole, ALL of our lives are richer for it.
Liz Katz on July 16, 2009 at 10:00 AM
I produced a CD-ROM based on the movie in 1996. It has a plethora of extra information that enthusiasts will find fascinating!
Brian Macker on July 16, 2009 at 09:51 PM
The only lefties here are you government worshipers. Even the slightest questioning of, not motivation, but justification, makes you guys circle around your sacred cow.
You guys can't read. I was not claiming that we should feed starving africans. I was pointing out that the moon shot was not about charity. It wasn't, period. To say it was for all mankind is bonkers. It only served the desires and purposes of some.
I remember that some people were adamantly against it at the time. To say it was "for all mankind" is to deny those peoples their true desires. It's a gross over generalization.
There were and are ancillary benefits to many projects. I'm sure that in some perverse way Hitler's WWII resulted in technological advances that benefited many. The jet engine as an example. That doesn't mean it was "for all mankind".
Nor was everyone inspired. Some people thought it was a big waste of money. Why send men when unmanned research is so much cheaper.
Unfortunately people like the commenters here can't abide the fact that other people have their own opinions.
To say that the race to the moon was for all mankind is a false kind of glorification. It's not enough for such people that it was a difficult achievement accomplished, it's also got to be about some kind of altruistic sacrifice for every single human being on the planet. In part so that they can justify taxing people involuntarily to fund their pet projects.
kamera stative on September 23, 2009 at 02:17 AM
The most fantastic space documentary ever made.I videoed it off the TV 20 years ago and was gutted when I tapped over it!Wish I could get it on R 2 DVD for Europe/England 5!...Thanks
怀淰＠＾过厾 on August 08, 2010 at 11:24 PM
To say that the race to the moon was for all mankind is a false kind of glorification. It's not enough for such people that it was a difficult achievement accomplished, it's also got to be about some kind of altruistic sacrifice for every single human being on the planet. In part so that they can justify taxing people involuntarily to fund their pet projects.
joesen on November 11, 2010 at 10:48 PM
I was nine when the Apollo 11 Eagle landed on the moon. I remember vividly watching it on a small black-and-white TV at sleepaway camp that summer of 1969.
Mbt Schuhe on August 11, 2011 at 06:57 PM
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