30 Day Film Challenge-Day 5

A film where a character had a job you want

For someone who grew up wanting to go to space (and still does), Apollo 13 made that a reality, even if only on screen for a few hours. Ever since I was old enough to know what a “job” was, I wanted to be an astronaut. I didn’t really know what the job entailed, but the idea of floating around in space, free of anything else, was so inviting to me.

I’m often amazed at how well certain films about true events keep you on the edge of your seat, even though you know what’s going to happen. Case in point, I remember a certain member of my family (who will remain nameless) asking me in the middle of this film whether the astronauts make it back alive. I was the source for this information in our family, having read every book on space from my school library and attending space camp during spring break a few years before the film was released. I assured my relative that the men did make it back, since the film was based on a book by one of the characters, Jim Lovell.

For those who don’t know, Apollo 13 tells the true story of Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise as they carry out the third mission to land men on the surface of the moon. En route to the moon, there is an explosion onboard their ship which leaves them with a limited supply of oxygen. The disaster forces the astronauts to abandon their landing and the men and women on the ground at NASA to find a way to keep the astronauts alive with enough breathable air to get them back to Earth safely.

I think one of the things that makes this such a great movie for me is the all-star cast. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton are fantastic as the three astronauts, with support from Gary Sinise as Ken Mattingly, the grounded Command Module Pilot who’s spot was taken by Swigert and my favorite supporting role of the film, Ed Harris as famous NASA flight director Gene Kranz. If you’ve ever seen interviews with the real Kranz, it’s clear that Harris nailed his performance.

The film was made 25 years ago now (which incidentally is the same amount of time from the events to the film’s release) and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the visuals hold up today. Key moments of the film including the rocket launch and the segments in space where the three astronauts float around inside the craft are well done and captured the feeling of being in space. As I mentioned before, the film holds the tension of the experience, and while the actual events took place over the course of nearly six days, the film does an excellent job of compressing those events into a run time of just over two hours.

While not entirely accurate from the perspective of all the historical nuances, the film tells the story of the brave men both in space and on the ground that seemingly achieved the impossible.

Day 4 - A film with a number in the title | Day 6 - Your favorite animated film

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