‘First Man’ is a captivating tribute

Posted on October 19, 2018

By MARK VIOLA

I’ve always been fascinated with space travel, especially the early days of NASA. It’s almost impossible to overstate the technological achievements accomplished during the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy made his famed “We choose to go to the moon” speech on Sept. 12, 1962, challenging the country’s space program to accomplish that mission by the end of the decade. To put that in perspective, Astronaut John Glenn had become the first American to orbit the Earth just eight months prior.

Although Kennedy would die in Dallas, Texas, just two months after making his speech, NASA would meet his deadline when Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the moon on July 21, 1969.

It is that monumental moment, and more importantly the man who took that one small step, which serves as the focus of the new film, “First Man,” directed by Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”) and written by John Singer (“Spotlight,” “The Post”) based on the biography by James R. Hansen.

There have been countless documentaries about the Apollo missions, as well as the Gemini and Mercury flights before them. The fascination with the moon landing — and the larger-than-life figures that made it possible — has obscured the actual people who were there. Despite being a self-avowed space nut, I must admit that I didn’t realize how little I knew about Neil Armstrong the man, the father, the husband, brought to captivating life by Ryan Gosling (“Blade Runner 2049”) in this movie. Even after watching this exceptional film (running nearly two and a half hours), I can’t say I understand him much better now that I did before, although that is more due to the introverted nature of Armstrong than any fault of the filmmakers.

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