Review of For All Mankind (1989) by Timothy S — 30 Dec 2007

For his Oscar-nominated 1989 documentary, [i]For All Mankind[/i], Al Reinert sifted through more than six million feet of film and close to 80 hours of interviews with more than a dozen astronauts to chronicle the about the Apollo space program. Rather than a dry chronology combining onscreen talking head interviews with unseen archival footage, Reinert chose to duplicate an Apollo flight, from launch to moon landing and back to earth again. Even with so much film to choose from, Reinert had to borrow footage from the earlier Gemini program to depict a space walk. As it is, however, [i]For All Mankind[/i] is a stirring paean to everyone who participated in the Apollo space program, from the engineers, scientists, and administrators who worked behind the scenes, to the familiar astronauts who represented the space program publicly.

Reinert begins [i]For All Mankind[/i] with the by-now-standard speech by John F. Kennedy, Jr. in April of 1961 calling for a national effort to put a man on the moon by end of the 1960s. Marshalling the resources of the federal government, scientists, engineers, and former test pilots (who, in effect, became the first astronauts) under the aegis of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the space program was divided into three sub-programs, the Mercury, the Gemini, and the Apollo program. Each sub-program was tasked with specific goals, but it was the Apollo program whose principal goal was putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Sadly, Kennedy didn?t live to see his dream fulfilled. While the space program flourished under Kennedy?s successor as president, Lyndon B. Johnson, the first moon landing occurred during Richard M. Nixon?s first term as president.

That much history or background, however, isn?t in [i]For All Mankind[/i]. Reinert?s goal was nothing less than to duplicate an Apollo mission to the moon and back. Reinert interviewed Jim Lovell (Apollo 8, 13), Russell Schweickart (Apollo 9), Eugene Cernan (Apollo 10, 17), Michael Collins (Apollo 11), Charles Conrad (Apollo 12), Richard Gordon (Apollo 12), Alan Bean (Apollo 12), John L. Swigert Jr. (Apollo 13), Stuart Roosa (Apollo 14), James Irwin (Apollo 15), Kenneth Mattingly (Apollo 16), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17). The ever-reclusive Neil Armstrong is conspicuous by his absence from [i]For All Mankind[/i]. That?s not surprising, however, given that Armstrong has generally refused to give public interviews about his experiences as the commander of Apollo 11. Also absent from [i]For All Mankind[/i] is the usually gregarious Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.

With unfettered access to footage shot by NASA and the astronauts themselves, along with audio recordings and contemporary interviews with the astronauts, Reinert cobbled together an almost seamless duplication or simulation of a lunar mission. Rather than mix in contemporary, onscreen interviews with the astronauts, Reinert kept the astronauts offscreen, adding their voices to the footage they shot on various missions or the NASA footage. The footage covers everything from the astronauts as they made their public farewells to the quieter moments before takeoff as the astronauts rode elevators to the top of the Saturn rockets that would transport them to the moon. Some of this footage is surprisingly cinematic in the angles they cover and how Reinert edits the footage to convey dramatic tension.

[i]For All Mankind[/i] is all the more cinematic for electronic pioneer Brian Eno?s ethereal, ambient score. Eno?s score is never overwhelming, never manipulative, and never bombastic. Eno?s modern, electronic score complements Reinert?s image. Combined, they convey the wonder and awe of space travel and walking on the moon. [i]For All Mankind[/i] is a fitting testament to the Apollo space program and Neil Armstrong?s first words when he stepped off the lunar module and took the first step on the moon, ?One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for all mankind.?