First Man is not your
typical astronauts in jeopardy film. Its closest relative is Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 (1997), which set the standard
for the NASA space film. Set during the same time period, it’s the true story of
Apollo 11 and contains many of the same astronauts that were involved in the
Apollo program and eventually went on to fly on Apollo 13 and other missions.
But where Apollo 13 glorified the accomplishments and sacrifices of NASA’s space
missions and the astronauts who flew them, First
Man is decidedly more cerebral showing us a more personal portrait of the
psychological impact the astronauts and their families suffered during the
space program, particularly Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and his wife Janet (Claire
Foy).
The moon mission is actually more of a
secondary story in the background here, focusing mainly on the intense
psychological drama playing out through the mind of Neil Armstrong who is shown
here as being a deeply focused, highly concentrated and a dedicated pilot, the
embodiment of calm under pressure.
Neil is the kind of soft-spoken super human
whose quick thinking and determination gets him out of the most difficult
hair-raising situations. He was in many ways the perfect person to pull off
such a dangerous undertaking.
But his stoicism did not always sit well
with his family, particularly his wife who sometimes needed him to be more
nurturing, especially during a family tragedy that occurred just before Neil was
selected to be a part of the Gemini program, which is the precursor to the
Apollo program.
Where Apollo
13 was sometimes criticized for not showing the social political atmosphere
of the country in which these missions took place, First Man makes more of an attempt at showing some brief scenes of
news footage covering Vietnam war protests and general public attitudes towards
NASA’s moon missions.
Visually, First Man is more intimately concentrated on Armstrong the man, as opposed
to the heroic pubic figure of our imagination, and his experiences dealing with
the uncertainty and magnitude of the tasks he and the other astronauts faced
while dealing with overwhelming pressure to succeed.
Based on his essential biography First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
by James R. Hansen, Damien Chazelle decided to make very few cuts between the
Houston crew on the ground and the astronauts in space, opting to keep our
attention focused on Neil Armstrong’s first-hand experience.
When asked by reporters if he will be taking
any personal items up to the moon with him, Neil characteristically responds
with a deadpan serious expression showing again his pragmatic dedicated focus
that he wished he could take more fuel with him.
So, it was deeply satisfying when First Man ultimately culminated with a
powerful emotional climax after arriving on the moon that is completely
unrelated to being on the moon. While surveying the barren lifeless cratered
surface, Armstrong flashes back to memories of his life back on earth and the
moment becomes not about the moon or even the human achievement, but a personal
object that Neil brought with him, which has haunted him since his journey
began.
JP
