by Glenn Dunks
There is a reason that filmmakers keep going back to space. The very concept of an ever-expansive mass of significant nothingness can inspire the mind in infinite ways. But whereas for many, the immediate idea is to resort to fireballs, aliens and standard hero versus villain storylines, I find myself far more attracted to those who turn towards the stars with a sense of wonder and awe. It is perhaps why I respond so well to documentaries like Roman Kroitor and Colin Low’s Universe (the short that inspired Kubrick’s 2001), Al Reinert’s For All Mankind, and now Emer Reynolds’ The Farthest, one of the year's finest.
Celebrating the 40-year anniversary of NASA’s 1977 mission to send two Voyager satellites into space, this Irish documentary is a work of stunning beauty. A film that grapples with the concept of not just what this giant science experiment is, but what it means to us, to the Earth, and to the very idea of humanity. It’s also just a whole lot of wide-eyed fun, a scintillating journey through the galaxy that is as illuminating as it is exciting...
It helps that The Farthest is full of experts who talk lovingly and precisely on their pet subject; their giddy enthusiasm somehow not just thrilling and informative, but comforting. It is enough to make you remember what it was like to be guided by people who knew what they were doing. While it may sound like a load of codswallop, in a time when documentaries about race and politics, war and horror, offer a more realistic portrayal of our world at this moment in time, it’s a small miracle to see a film like this that holds the weight of the world on its shoulders and yet makes a statement about the power of science and hope and wonder and which allows the viewer to enter a world where humanity isn’t a complete and utter dumpster fire of disgrace and disgust.
The Farthest is the third feature documentary from director Emer Reynolds whose two prior films Three Men Go to War and Here Was Cuba both centred around the missile crisis of the 1960s. The Farthest begins in similar terrain, starting as it did in the space race between America and the Soviet Union. For its generous, but welcome, two-hour runtime – I have been lead to believe that its PBS airing tomorrow will be unfortunately shortened – Reynolds charts those involved not just in the creation and eventual launching of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, but also the Golden Record that was attached and the people featured on it including a mix-tape of sorts of traditional music from around the globe, an assemblage of languages, and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode”.
Both actual Voyager photography and visual effect sequences are used to illustrate the Voyager mission, and despite the large number of scientific talking heads, these sequences make The Farthest a more cinematic venture than its PBS airing will give justice to. With archival TV news footage sprinkled throughout whenever its 40-year timeline reaches a moment in time when one of the spacecrafts reached a new milestone, it remains a constant thrill to see and hear about the glimpses of planets and moons. A thrill that belies the fact that many in the audience will have already benefited from its discoveries in school. I guess one of the additional neat tricks is that The Farthest can now itself benefit others.
The opening moments that look upwards, the sky obscured by trees and buildings and kites, hint at the very Earth-bound attitude the film takes towards space exploration. It’s thorough and detailed, but it never loses the very human element of awe that one can get when staring towards the stars. It’s something unique to us, that desire to know more about how we came to be and what else could possibly be out there. The Farthest doesn’t look at any of the subject matters that dominate the news in 2017, but it nonetheless gets at something very important to today and it would be wise to go on its journey.
Release: After a minor theatrical qualifying release, The Farthest will air tomorrow on PBS. Check here for details.
Oscar Chances: The Academy’s documentary branch haven’t leaned towards a space-themed movie since (I think this is right) 1989’s For All Mankind, even skipping In the Shadow of the Moon. With so many earthbound films covering so many important subjects, I suspect they will pass on this. It would definitely be neat to see the film on the visual effects roster, however unlikely that seems.