Review of For All Mankind (1989) by Adam C — 10 Nov 2009

Loved the use of real footage from the Apollo Program -- especially from Apollo 12. I think everyone has seen the footage from 11 and everyone knows about 13.

But seeing footage as the crew from 12 was exploring the moon was a first -- minus the photos and short videos of the crew putting up the American flag.

The one aspect I didn't like about this film, though, were the jumps between the Apollo missions. I realize the documentary is supposed to be what it's like to go to the moon in back, from blastoff to splashdown, but it got confusing at times. The one in particular was where we could see one of the early Apollo missions in between the Earth and the moon. I probably lost track of what was happening until the alarms started going off and I realized we were seeing live footage from Apollo 13. The oxygen tank had just exploded and soon they were creating the carbon monoxide filter (that would prove to save their lives).

But then the documentary skips back to show the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 moon orbits, moon landings and the Apollo 12 exploration of the moon.

I also enjoyed Apollo 10's footage of the Earth while in orbit. Nice.

Probably one of the better space documentaries -- since it is raw, original footage. And probably one of the better films from space.