The ability to craft a compelling, artistic, and evocative documentary film is a true filmmaker's test and one that British director Peter Middleton has totally aced with his latest project now streaming on Netflix titled 'Apollo 13: Survival." This immersive time capsule chronicles the unlucky NASA mission in April of 1970 where astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise nearly didn't make it back to Earth after their service module suffered an explosion half-way to the moon that left the craft venting oxygen out into space. Further complications arose with their electrical and life support systems that aborted any attempt to land on the moon .
The miracle of their safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean days later united the world for one brief moment in a global vigil of hope and prayer. In our review of the film , we found it to be a thoughtful look on one of the most harrowing moments in spaceflight history, one that resonates emotionally even today. "I was familiar with a lot off this material," Middleton tells Space.
com. "It's been well versed and well played in film across the Apollo program. A really important film in terms of my own development as a filmmaker was Al Reinert's "For All Mankind.
" I thought it was such a beautiful film. And the way he was able to excavate the NASA vaults and pair that with Brian Eno's score using those reflective, meditative interviews with the Apollo astronauts was an interesting approach that was inspirational to me as a filmmak.