Product: For All Mankind [VHS] (1989)
Rating: 5.0
a really unique film
This is a great piece of work in that it trancends the usual limitations of the documentary format. Rather than a dry linear presentation of the facts, we are given the images and the words of the participants. What is created is the impression of the greatness of the achievement. This is a work that leaves the viewer understanding why this was important in a way that none of the documentaries before or after have been able to achieve.People obsessed with the details of history will not like it. The director plays fast and loose with chronology and often selects clips to make a point rather than present linear history. But in my opinion, the work proves that telling a story results in a much better work than following the modern obsession with "recreating history".The director lets the men who were there tell their own story in their own words. And that story is all the more effective because these are real people rather than celebrities doing voiceovers.There is no better telling of the story of the space program leading up to the moon landings than this film. Its a shame so few people have seen it or even know about it.