| For All Mankind | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Al Reinert |
| Produced by | Betsy Broyles Breier Al Reinert Ben Young Mason Fred Miller |
| Edited by | Susan Korda |
| Music by | Brian Eno Roger Eno Daniel Lanois |
| Distributed by | Apollo Associates |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
For All Mankind is a 1989documentary film made of original footage fromNASA'sApollo program, which successfully prepared and landed the first humans on theMoon from 1968 to 1972. It was directed byAl Reinert, with music byBrian Eno.[1] The film, consisting of footage fromApollo 7 throughApollo 17, was assembled to depict what seems like a single trip to the Moon, highlighting the beauty and otherworldliness of the images by only using audio from the interviews Reinert conducted withApollo crew members.[2]
The idea for this documentary film began in 1979[3] after Reinert had researched a story about the Apollo program forTexas Monthly and learned that huge amounts of high-qualityfootage had been shot by theastronauts, only to be archived by NASA without ever being seen by the public. Although he initially thought that making a documentary about the missions would be relatively straightforward, it would be ten years before the final film was released.
Reinert and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet (1.8 million meters) of footage and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary. To copy the original film held at theJohnson Space Center, Reinert had to take an optical printer and scan each frame from the original 16mm film and enlarge to 35mm. It took him 18 months to copy the 80 minutes of film used in the documentary. Most of the footage used is of the astronauts andmission control during theApollo program, but Reinert also used some footage fromProject Gemini, such asEd White's spacewalk fromGemini 4 (including the infamous lost glove), and a shot used to representTrans Lunar Injection (TLI) that is in fact also footage from a Gemini missionre-entry.
Thirteen[4] of the original Apollo astronauts were interviewed by Reinert. Among those providing narration areJim Lovell (Apollo 8 andApollo 13),Michael Collins (Apollo 11),Charles "Pete" Conrad (Apollo 12),Jack Swigert (Apollo 13), andKen Mattingly (Apollo 16).
The title ofFor All Mankind comes from thelunar plaque left by theApollo 11 astronauts:
Here men from the planet Earth
First set foot upon the Moon
July 1969, A. D.
We came in peace for all mankind
The excerpt of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy'sAddress to Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort on 12 September 1962 that is included in the film is slightly altered to better conform to this title. Kennedy said:
"The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join it or not, and it is one of the greatest adventures of all time ... We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won, and they must be won and usedfor all people ... We choose to go to the Moon. 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 ...."[5]
Reinert dubbed over "people" with "mankind", the audio of which was taken from a different Kennedy speech.[citation needed]
Several unusual or memorable views are included:
The film's original score was written, produced, and performed byBrian Eno, his brotherRoger andDaniel Lanois[6] and released as an album entitledApollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks in 1983 (at that time, the planned film project was namedApollo).[7] By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the tracks included on the album had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists. These additional tracks can be found on the albumMusic for Films III.
The Criterion Collection releasedFor All Mankind onDVD in 2000, on both DVD andBlu-ray Disc in 2009, and onUltra HD Blu-ray in 2022.[8] All three releases feature two subtitle tracks, the first of which displays the name of the mission each shot came from and the name of each person shown on screen and the second of which also contains traditionalsubtitles for the hard-of-hearing, which specify the name of each person heard on the soundtrack. They also include a commentary track by director Al Reinert andEugene A. Cernan, commander ofApollo 17 and the last man to stand on the surface of the Moon. The 2009 and 2022 releases also includes amaking-of documentary and several otherfeaturettes.
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 95% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10.[9]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[10]
For All Mankind was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1990.[11][12]
At the 1989Sundance Film Festival,For All Mankind won both the Grand Jury Prize Documentary and Audience Award Documentary.[13]
It won the International Documentary Association's Best Feature Award in 1989.[14]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary 1989 | Succeeded by |