Apollo 11 (2019)

APOLLO 11  (2019)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Todd Douglas Miller
Pretty much anybody who was around back then can tell you where they were that day in July 1969 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Anybody who wasn't around probably knows the history. Which makes it sort of interesting  how suspenseful this documentary on the moon landing manages to be. Partly that's due to Todd Douglas Miller's skillful editing, and partly to Matt Morton's percussive musical score. The footage is all archival stuff shot by NASA - it looks fantastic - and the voice work is mostly communications between the astronauts and ground control, with a little Walter Cronkite (inevitably) thrown in. One thing you notice (at least I did) is how straight-arrow everybody looks, from the NASA guys in their regulation crewcuts, white shirts and ties, to the touristy crowds camped out around Cape Canaveral. There's not a hippie in sight, and this was just weeks before the tribes gathered at Woodstock. Same country. Different cultural events. Same moment in time. Radically different fashion statements.