I saw the new Apollo 11 documentary on Imax last night. It was utterly spectacular. The director, Todd Miller, discovered a trove of previously unseen footage and unheard audio, and pieced numerous threads together to tell a first-person story of the moon landing from the perspective of not only the three astronauts who executed it, but also the many background figures who designed, built, and helped to pilot the craft. There is no narration, no flashback, no interpretation...just a visceral ongoing tale of the real moments in which the landing occurred. In a number of instances, the screen is split, occasionally into as many as ten frames, to show the work and reactions of multiple people to the same moments or events. It really surprised me that NASA had the foresight to film not only the more notable aspects of the ship and landing itself, but also the more seemingly mundane dimensions of the story, like the crowds on hand to watch and the support staff huddled around old computer terminals.
The imagery was surprisingly rich and crisp, and this was one film that I think really benefited from the scale of the Imax format. It runs on Imax through the end of this week, and then goes to regular theaters. I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the story...it does a great job of immersing you in the experience in a totally new way, even if you already know a lot about the topic.
Here are a couple of good reviews:
https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/03/film-review-apollo-11/
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/apollo-11-2019
https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/making-the-mind-blowing-apollo-11-doc-802297/