October 26, 2018 4 min to read

First Man

First Man is a sensitive, melancholy peek into the mind of the real Neil Armstrong, not shown in most history books.

by Zach Saul

Were you aware that in the 60s we sent people into space in what were essentially tin cans? The terrifying rickety opening sequence from First Man made me painfully aware. The moon landing is this deeply romantic part of american history, seen as one of our prouder achievements - but the truth is Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) was lucky to make it back alive. First Man is a detailed and sensitive biopic about the real Neil Armstrong, a soft spoken, quiet, reserved man with a lot of inner conflicts. Like many american children I always assumed Neil was a boisterous figure full of gusto and bravado, but in reality he was a sensitive introvert. The movie follows Neil and the space program throughout the 60s, and Neil’s struggle to grapple with his daughter’s death. His two year old daughter struggles with a brain tumor, and Armstrong fervently documents her reactions and symptoms in an effort to find a cure to no avail. His colleagues at NASA attempt to use this tragedy as a reason to disqualify him from space travel and explain his missions complications. Despite the skepticism Armstrong applies and is accepted into NASA’s Gemini program and eventually is assigned command of Apollo 11 (which completed the lunar landing).

We can really feel the weight of Neil’s home life and the growing tension between him and his wife Janet (Claire Foy) as his attempts to compartmentalize his daughter’s death intensify. In a particularly gut-wrenching scene Janet angrily forces Neil to sit down with his two sons and explain to them the realities of the Apollo 11 mission and that he might not come back. The scene served as a reckoning of sorts for Neil in his marriage, but it was also a moment where it was clear saying it out loud forced Neil himself to confront these realities for the first time.

Watching First Man I was struck by how understated a movie it turned out to be given the stakes of the moon landing. Chazelle says he wanted to make a movie that respected the real Neil Armstrong and depicted honestly what he was going through at the time sans all the ‘john wayne’ mythology. Apparently for this movie, Chazelle was primarily inspired by documentaries - which isn’t something you’d have guessed seeing the trailer for First Man. The movie lacks a lot of the melodramatic tropes of hollywood biopics and for good reason - Chazelle wanted to make a different type of film from the hundreds of space movies in existence already.

Hilariously, First Man has conjured up the ire of Donald Trump and many conservative leaders for not showing the “iconic moment” of the moon landing in which Armstrong plants the flag. Regardless of your political beliefs - what these critics fail to grasp is that Chazelle’s choice to omit the flag planting had much more to do with the previous 90 minutes and the tone of the rest of the movie than any conscious political statement. First Man is a meticulously detailed, documentary-style account of Armstrong’s experience, and chose to focus instead on his planting of of his dead daughter’s bracelet into Little West Crater, because that was what was most meaningful to Neil, and was a moment unexplored by previous films.

The Good: Technically, First Man has a ton that film-nerds will love. The shots inside the spacecrafts and training facilities feel really intimate and unique and give is a fresh view into the astronaut’s early experience. The movie is very respectful to the real Neil Armstrong and is extremely accurate historically opting for truth instead of melodrama.

The Bad: I’d be lying if I didn’t confess I missed some of the melodramatic biopic tropes absent in First Man. Interesting as it was to learn about the real man behind the lunar landing I would have been interested to spend more time hearing from the opposition to Apollo 11 (the movie briefly touches on the public opposition to space travel in the late 60s) or Armstrong’s naysayers to give the narrative a little more tension. I have a ton of respect for what Chazelle was trying to do with First Man but for me - this film lacked the sparkle and emotional weight of Whiplash and La La Land.