Not The Real Man, just Hollywood

Rating: 3/10 (21 January 2020)

Having just seen First Man, someone will be left full of spectacular images, eerie lunar panoramas, pompous music, but damn if it came to the slightest conclusion as to who truly was the man who stayed in history because he took that "small step".
Director Damien Sazel, claims to base the script on Armstrong's homonymous official biography. Obviously we have read different books, because in my copy there is another person who almost never appears on the screen. And for that Ryan Gosling is not responsible for delivering a flat acting, just as he was asked.
Yes, I admit I am a man who is almost obsessed with space programs, having read countless books and articles on the subject. And of course, such a film is aimed at the general public and not to 'geeks' like us where we count the buttons on the cockpit or we notice that in Gemini the space suit was actually the G4C but not the helmet. To finish with the technicalities, the space race was such a fascinating but also so well-documented effort, that you don't have to build emotion by putting astronauts to shout, brawl or invent crises where they didn't exist and shake your camera just an inch from their faces. Is it Hollywood, not a documentary, will anyone say? Ron Howard with Apollo 13 made an epic and fun movie, staying 100% close to reality. So, if you want, it can be done. Chasel didn't want to.
Armstrong's portrayal is of a cryptic character, completely given to his work that treats even his family in a clinical way. We understand that he lost his daughter to cancer and that makes him even more distant. Of course, in the movie, his daughter is closer to four so he can tell him heart-breaking things, while in fact she wasn't even two when she died. His wife is constantly angry and before the flight to the moon, she is furiously forcing him, to explain to his children that he may not return. Another lie. When you were a pilot's wife those things was discussed ten years ago. To fly experimental jet fighters in the 50s was infinitely more dangerous. At some point he is ejected by a lunar module simulator. With half his face scratched he returns home agitated to quarrel with his wife. In fact, he just bit his tongue on the landing and an hour later he was in his office, working. In the mission to the moon, in every word that comes out of his mouth, he sounds like he is a robot. In the original recordings, we hear a man who is humorous and cool and shows restrained enthusiasm. All those who worked with him described a hard working, kind, giving and very modest man.