For All Mankind (1989)
Directed by Al Reinert

Enthusiasts of the U.S. space program gravitate toward the expected canon – The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, and From the Earth to the Moon, but this little-seen documentary offers a much cooler perspective on the moon landings than I'd have thought possible. Director Al Reinert, who was later a writer for both Apollo 13 and From the Earth to the Moon, offers beautiful, mostly unfamiliar NASA footage blown up to 35mm, along with a soundtrack of spacey music (Eno and Lanois) and surprisingly human commentary from the astronauts themselves, collected years into their retirement.

The result is an incredibly intimate document, especially given that its subject matter is man going to the moon. Some very satisfying details are revealed (did you know that Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and others recorded some songs specifically for the astronauts to play on the flight?), and the tired ol' news-byte footage (planting the flag on the lunar surface, etc) is presented in unexpected ways.

One simply staggering sequence visualizes a dream narrated by the astronaut who stayed in the command module during the first moon landing (I suppose I could do the research and come up with the name, but fuck you) by filtering actual footage from the lunar rover as it cruises across the moonscape—certainly one of the most commanding scenes I've ever seen in a documentary.

I can't attest as to the accuracy of the info presented or the spin provided by the director, but I will say that I enjoyed the film immensely, and normally I just yawn my way through this kind of thing. Reinart took a well-traveled subject and made it immediate, capturing the real magnificence of this endeavor to land humans on the moon. It really was magnificent, too … don't let all the boring stories from your Baby Boomer friends turn you off.

The DVD includes launch footage from all the moon missions and a pretty useless gallery of paintings made by astronaut Alan Bean. How lame is that? It's like Billy Dee Williams doing paintings of fucking Lando Calrissian.

Review by Maxine Mouse