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| Gosling channeling Armstrong. |
People over a certain age have surely heard and seen enough details about the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing by now, but not so much about the lives of the men who accomplished the feat. First Man, directed by Damien Chazelle (most recently known for La La Land), takes us into the hearts and minds of the people inhabiting those puffy moon suits, especially flight commander Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling).
It also depicts with amazing clarity and impressive special effects just what it feels like to be imprisoned inside a rocket propelled at Warp speed to parts unknown. We see the training involved, watch the test flights, and mourn the deaths of more than a few pilots. It's scary stuff, bringing into sharp focus the immense bravery required of our astronauts.
Besides all the men in suits who huddle together smoking cigarettes (this was the 60s when it was an acceptable activity) and making big decisions at NASA, there are gauzy flashbacks concerning Armstrong's deeply scarred personal life. A family tragedy early on impacts his marriage, and his lovely wife Janet (Claire Foy) suffers through her own private Hell while watching her husband, "Slip the surly bonds of earth," as America's anchorman Walter Cronkite famously said at the time, paraphrasing a line from Air Force fighter pilot/ poet John Magee's "High Flight."
Although the dialog is sparse in the extreme, almost annoyingly so, the apt soundtrack and stunning cinematography more than compensate. My Personal Oscar Prediction: Gosling will at the very least be a Best Actor contender, if not the winner. His performance as the stoically tight-lipped Armstrong, ridden with unrelenting personal grief while attempting to make history, is nothing short of miraculous.
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