Documentarian Peter Middleton has form. His prior films, THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN and NOTES ON BLINDNESS are exceptional. And this new film, documenting the famous salvaging of the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission, is no exception. Over 96 minutes, he gives us a minute by minute immersion into the mission, from successful take-off to miraculous re-entry. We know the beats from the iconic Hollywood movie. The explosion two days into the flight, the venting of the oxygen, the transfer to the lunar module designed for only 2 people for 2 days, the manual transfer of data, the manual adjustment of the module's trajectory... Every moment filled with peril and terrifying odds.
The film beautifully edits together NASA video and audio footage and contemporary interviews with many of the key players, from astronauts to family members to the iconic Gene Krantz at Mission Control. The resulting film is thrilling, even though we know the outcome, because we feel as never before the intimacy of being trapped in a tiny lunar module hundreds of thousands of miles from earth. And while the astronauts are preternaturally cool thanks to years of training and a rigorous selection process, we see the fear and concern on the face of wife Marilyn Lovell in still photographs and in her voice.
I felt viscerally the relief when communications were re-established with the capsule as it came through the earth's atmosphere. Like the gathered crowds cheering in Grand Central Station, I felt catharsis and joy. And then we see the men who got them back - the scientists and engineers back at Mission Control, four days into a crisis, still with their ties tied and their shirts tucked in. It feels like another time and another way of being. There's no whooping or hollering. It's so contained. And all the more impressive for that.
APOLLO 13: SURVIVAL has a running time of 96 minutes and was released on Netflix on Friday.
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