Former President John F. Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
We went to the moon because we wanted to stretch our human capabilities beyond what we considered possible. The stars beyond are lampposts on a journey of discovery we are destined to take. “First Man” reminds us that journey comes not without sacrifice, but as the glory of the galaxy shines all around us when we take that first step into the unknown, we know the legacy of those we lost will rest among the stars.
“First Man” doesn’t fail to capture the context and sacrifice of the moon landing. Americans might have forgotten but history remembers the many that sacrificed for us to land a manned mission to the moon.
Our journey to the moon begins with Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and his wife, Janet (Claire Foy), mourning the death of their daughter. The family moves to Houston to pursue NASA’s Gemini and later Apollo missions. Trial and failure during various phases of the larger mission see the deaths of several of Neil’s colleagues and friends. At home, Neil and Janet struggle to create a new life after the death of a child while pursuing a feat no man has done before. We know how this story ends, but this movie highlights the gravity that death and relationships weigh on the protagonist’s ability to do feats no man had done before.
Conservatives can rest easy: American flags are omnipresent on uniforms, on spacecraft, waving in solidarity with our departing astronauts, and on the moon.
The film is impressive in what it doesn’t do. Large portions of the movie play in silence with moments of tension and success given the quiet void that space accommodates. The score and music, when needed, added a nice narrative continuity for Armstrong, but don’t serve the purpose to make any image more robust. This is a compliment to the filmmaking quality for the images don’t require much augmentation. In fact, most of the more beautiful shots are of Armstrong and the other astronauts taking in their journey rather than shots of the magnificence of space itself.
The picture is easily a top five film for the year so far, and Gosling’s performance is competently delivered. He’s supported by a memorable cast and the capable storytelling of Damien Chazelle (La La Land).
The movie is very clearly Oscar caliber and politely touches on subtle themes soliciting the often-used political thumb on the scale given to nominees. The political points aren’t overbearing, but do give a correct context for the time piece: Anti-Vietnam protests, racial tie-ins over the government’s choice to put “whitey on the moon” rather than feed disadvantaged minorities, and noting an escalating situation with the Russians over space accomplishments. Overall, the film captures a brilliant historical snapshot.
“First Man” is worth your time and attention. In a time of strife and division, “First Man” reminds us that, as we stare back from the moon, we have taken only one small step, but exploration must go on and the sacrifices we make along the way only embolden us to reach further out and to the depths within.
Tyler Grant (@The_Tyler_Grant) is a Young Voices contributor, who completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan. He writes movie reviews for the Washington Examiner.
