Product: For All Mankind [VHS] (1989)
Rating: 4.0
It's art, not necessarily history.
Al Reinert's "For All Mankind" uses exclusively NASA footage and the voices of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts to tell a story. It is the story of a vast enterprise, a grand adventure, a national trimuph. This motion picture is by no means technically accurate, chronologically correct or told within a proper historical timeline.But all that misses the point of this picture. What Reinert does in 79 minutes is tell a tale of granduer. He weaves a tapestry of vision and imagination. He paints a picture of emotion, triumph, tragedy and day to day grind. This motion picture was never intended to be a science class. It is intended to be a documentary that showcases the feelings and impressions of the very men that made the journey. It is intended to convey a sense of the mad dash to a seemingly impossible goal that this nation was going through in the 60's and early 70's. If you're interested in a technically accurate chronology of the early space program, then you'd be wise to get a different movie. But get this one too - if for no other reason than its inspirational value.The Criterion DVD also contains a wonderful selection of Allan Bean's paintings with commentary from the artist about each one. Bean's paintings are magnificent and his descriptions of how each one came to be bring a new life to them.Very worthwhile disk to own.