Moon with a Movie Camera: Five essential films about landing on the moon

On this day 52 years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. The historic moment is remembered and talked about across the globe even today. For your bingeing pleasure, here are five films that focus on the ambitious trips made between Earth and its only natural satellite

The date was July 20, 1969. Two astronauts — Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — landed on the moon as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon, followed by Aldrin, 19 minutes later. Later, Armstrong described the event as being “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. To mark this occasion, the US celebrates July 20 as National Moon Day. 

Closer to home, Indian scientists at ISRO are also working hard to launch the Chandrayaan-3 unmanned mission. Any space-related mission has generated a lot more curiosity when it becomes a part of pop culture, especially when it is adapted into a movie. While we wait for the next historic scientific event to occur — and as billionaires race each other for a trip to space — here are some films to watch about moon landings. 

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

A Trip to the Moon (or Le voyage dans la lune, originally) is considered one of the earliest science fiction movies. The short silent film by Georges Melies was inspired partly by stories from writers like Jules Verne. It is about a group of space explorers who travel to the moon and escape from a tribe of strange beings. They manage to capture one of the tribe members and return to Earth. This short film also pokes fun at 19th-century science and imperialist motivations. Interestingly, it also suggested the possibility of mood landing and space travel, which only became true many years later. 

For All Mankind (1989)

Director Al Reinert was a journalist and was intrigued by the Apollo program after finding out, while researching a story, that NASA had archived millions of hours of footage shot by its astronauts which the public hadn’t seen. Reinert and editor Susan Korda took on the mammoth task of sifting through that footage and hours of interviews with NASA astronauts to present a documentary that gives viewers a close peek into the experience of flying a mission to the moon. The film, in which Reinert interviewed thirteen of the original Apollo astronauts, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1990.

The Last Man on the Moon (2014)

Gene Cernan became the 12th and last man to walk on the moon in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. ‘The Last Man on the Moon’ focuses on Cernan’s story. The documentary features interviews with Cernan and with other astronauts. It depicts an interesting picture of the Apollo era, during which astronauts were referred to as ‘superstars’. The film also brings attention to the fact that people’s interest in space and science-related matters was slowly declining by that period and how this affected the work of astronauts then. 

First Man (2018)

Director Damien Chazelle (of La La Land fame), screenwriter Josh Singer (The Post, Spotlight) and Ryan Gosling prove to be a powerful team. The film is based on Neil Armstrong’s authorised biography ‘First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong’ by James R. Hansen. Gosling portrays Armstrong. The film narrates a historic moment through the personal experience of people involved in it. It highlights the fact that any triumphant event often comes at the cost of pain and individual sacrifice borne by people. We relive the moon landing through Armstrong’s eyes and the film attempts to make viewers realise and respect what he went through to get there.

Apollo 11 (2019)

‘Apollo 11’, directed by Todd Douglas Miller, uses archival footage to retell the iconic story of man’s first trip to the moon. But the documentary isn’t just a reiteration of history. The film uses never-seen-before footage and sound from the mission that has been scanned and restored. Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote, “Although we know how the mission turns out, the movie generates and maintains suspense. And it rekindles a crazy sense of wonder at, among other things, what one can do practically with trigonometry.” 

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