First Man

‘First Man’ is a well made film that explores the mostly forgotten aspects of the story of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.  It is a pretty accurate portrayal of not only the steps NASA’s space program went through to reach that goal, but also the emotional toil the space program took on Armstrong and his family.  We are given an in-depth look at how the astronauts trained and what it was like to be in an early space capsule.  I learned a lot about Neil Armstrong (as portrayed by Ryan Gosling) that I didn’t know.  He comes across generally as an emotionally stunted stoic, barely talking to his wife and sons, terse and distant with his peers;  and yet the movie touchingly depicts his soft vulnerable side too.  To Armstrong, going to the moon was not a big ego trip to become a celebrity; it was his job.   I understand that some people are up in arms because the movie doesn’t show Armstrong actually planting the American flag on the moon; and have implied that this movie is insufficiently American-centric, or even anti-American.  Those are definitely people who have not seen the film and perhaps should actually see it before commenting (the flag is shown on the moon in background, and there is scarcely any way the events can be portrayed as done by anyone but Americans).  I do not want to spoil the film, but there is another focus of this movie that comes out, something else that happened up there.  This isn’t a movie for everyone though.  It is not as exciting or fast paced as say “Apollo 13” or even “The Right Stuff.”  I was also disappointed in the way Claire Foy, playing Armstrong’s wife Janet, was underused.  I do understand this wasn’t her story,  I just wished she had been given more screen time.  All in all I think anyone interested in the early days of the space program will want to see this movie.