In the Shadow of the Moon

***In the Shadow of the Moon*** is a British documentary film about the United States' crewed missions to the Moon. It was produced by Film4, Passion Pictures, and Discovery Films, and was released in 2007.

## Synopsis

The film follows the crewed missions to the Moon made by the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The documentary reviews both the footage and media available to the public at the time of the missions, as well as NASA films and materials which had not been opened in 30 years. All of this has been sourced and remastered in HD by the stock footage company Footagevault. Augmenting the archival audio and video are contemporary interviews with some surviving Apollo era astronauts, including Alan Bean, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, John Young, David Scott, Charlie Duke, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt. The former astronauts have the only speaking roles in the film, although occasional supplementary information is presented on screen with text and archival television footage presents the words of journalists such as Jules Bergman and Walter Cronkite. The only surviving Moon walker at the time not to participate was Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the Moon.

The documentary shares its name with a book by space historians Colin Burgess and Francis French, and both include many original interviews with Apollo lunar astronauts. The documentary offers a view of the Apollo program that is complementary to the book and is neither a source nor a tie-in.

## Participants

Ten former astronauts appear in *In the Shadow of the Moon*. During the Apollo Program, twenty-four men reached the vicinity of the Moon. Of the twelve who actually set foot on the lunar surface, eight appear on camera (Neil Armstrong did not participate, while Pete Conrad, James Irwin and Alan Shepherd had died). Two other astronauts who are featured in the film (Jim Lovell and Michael Collins) orbited around the Moon without landing. All crewed Apollo flights with the exception of Apollo 7, which was an Earth-orbit mission, were represented in the film. The film is presented by Ron Howard, but there is no narration in the film.

* **Apollo 11**
	+ Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot
	+ Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot
* **Apollo 12**
	+ Alan Bean, Lunar Module Pilot
* **Apollo 13**
	+ Jim Lovell, Commander (also Apollo 8 CMP)
* **Apollo 14**
	+ Edgar Mitchell, Lunar Module Pilot
* **Apollo 15**
	+ David Scott, Commander (also Apollo 9 CMP)
* **Apollo 16**
	+ John Young, Commander (also Apollo 10 CMP)
	+ Charles Duke, Lunar Module Pilot (also Apollo 11 CapCom)
* **Apollo 17**
	+ Eugene Cernan, Commander (also Apollo 10 LMP)
	+ Harrison Schmitt, Lunar Module Pilot

## Release

*In the Shadow of the Moon* premiered on January 19, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Audience Award. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 7, 2007.

## Reception

The film received very positive reviews from critics. Metacritic reports that *In the Shadow of the Moon* has a score of 84 out of 100, based on 34 critics, classifying the film's reception as "Universal Acclaim". Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 95% approval rating, based on 113 reviews. The consensus reads: "Director David Sington poetically interwove 20th Century's cosmonautic history with its effect on the public's view of their country, their heroes and their future".

Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars, calling it "spellbinding". Entertainment Weekly rated the movie an A. The *Los Angeles Times* called the film a "fresh and compelling film, made with intelligence and emotion". Meanwhile, *The Hollywood Reporter* concluded that "The value of this film, not just to moviegoers today but to future generations, is simply enormous."

On June 23, 2008, the Independent Investigations Group (IIG) honored *In the Shadow of the Moon* for promoting scientific skepticism in media; the award was received by producer Duncan Copp.

## Home media

Main article: *In the Shadow of the Moon (Home video)*