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The Dish
Directed by: Rob Sitch
Starring: Sam Neill
Genre:
Comedy/Drama
Run Time: 101
min.
Release Date:
April 2001
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Only having been four years
old when the first lunar landing took place, I have no recollection
about the excitement that surrounded this monumental achievement. So
many men and women had dedicated their very lives to this one moment in
time that it stopped the world (not just one nation) and allowed all of
us the chance to see just how far human beings could go in their quest
to reach that next horizon. And although THE DISH is about one
backward country radio telescope in Parkes, Australia that beamed those
first Armstrong-on-the-moon images to billions of people ...it is much
more than that.
Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill, JURASSIC PARK) is the director of the
Parkes telescope, a sensitive piece of hardware surrounded by sheep
paddocks. Seeing such a large array (this telescope could actually
deliver telemetry, track the lunar module, and send back
television images) in an austere landscape made me pause several times
during the film and marvel at the sheer beauty of this monstrosity
against the setting of Australia's back country.
Initially the film takes on the feel of something homey; a gentle
side-trip down a path we all know too well (the first manned mission to
the moon.) These hick-like folk are in charge of something as important
as the lunar landing?! But the viewer gets pulled into the film in a
very intimate way. We see that these are simple people,
but ones who take their jobs very seriously ...but not overly so. The
comedy, like the movie itself, is light and sprinkled throughout the
relationships (even when they lose Apollo 11 as it approaches the moon
and lie to NASA about it!) I found myself getting choked-up as the world
— and this little microcosm of people in Parkes — held their breath as
those first pictures of man's footprint on the moon took place (during
hurricane force winds that threatened to blow over the telescope and
kill the men inside operating it; they realized the importance of that
moment and were willing to risk everything.) If you'd like to take a
trip down memory lane (ala 1969) but want a different road, The Dish
is a nice film to try out.
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Image from The Dish
DVD cost: $9.99
Purchase:
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Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
In real life Neil 'Fox'
Mason - the character represented by Russ 'Mitch' Mitchell in the movie
- never got to see the moonwalk pictures live. He was too busy keeping
the windswept dish pointed at the moon.
Movie Quote: "Let
me get this right. You've lost Apollo 11."
Other Actors/Actresses
from The Dish
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