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Rating:
I don’t remember exactly what I was doing on Sunday, July 20th, '69. Perhaps I went to the sea with my family; I was only ten and a half years old, and the news of the event was broadcasted on TV news, some of which I watched, called by my parents. The excitement was in the air for many days before, even weeks, and seeing those black-and-white images quite tickled my young imagination, but I don't remember much more except one name, and it was that of the astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the lunar surface.
Neil is not just an engineer; he is also a father who lost his daughter Karin, taken by life at just 2 years old by an incurable brain tumor, and this painful event would accompany him with Apollo 11 all the way to the Moon.
Neil is a man of few words, always saying only what is necessary and sometimes only if forced to, as will happen when pushed by his sweet wife to talk to their other two children the night before leaving.
He is not lacking in courage and demonstrates it at various moments.
His sole intention is to try to reach beyond Earth, and nothing will divert him from this intention, not even the many deaths of his colleagues, nor the dangerous accidents he encountered while pursuing this cherished goal.
Ryan Gosling perfectly reflects all the human and psychological attitudes that Neil Armstrong must have experienced, acting as only he can professionally and effortlessly in his own way.
The two hours and twenty minutes of film pass by without feeling heavy, despite the few dialogues.
A curiosity, the film (based on the 2005 book of the same name by James R. Hansen) premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on August 29, 2018, while in the States it was shown almost two months later.
Another curiosity, many people, including a Florida Senator, criticized the director Damien Sayre Chazelle for not showing the planting of the stars and stripes flag upon landing, as a lack of patriotism. To this, when subsequently interviewed, Ryan Thomas Gosling replied that it was a conquest for everyone and not just America, and that’s it…
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