The times we live in seem to get closer to Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World every day. There’s so much information coming out that most people don’t bother reading beyond a headline, giving power to clickbait. There are so many bad things happening in the background that no one cares to pay attention to what actually affects them, instead we cling to all of the distractions available like social media. Things are certainly more confusing than they ever have been, as the media has found the best way to keep the public’s attention is to manipulate the way people feel. Texas natives David and Mark Dodson have made an intriguing film to expose that.
In David Dodson and Mark Dodson’s THE LANDING, they portray how easy it is to shape the public’s perspective on what is reality. As a space enthusiast, I already knew that the Apollo missions ended at 17, without having prior knowledge that this documentary is NOT REAL, or knowledge about the space program, many would mistake this for the real thing. Furthermore viewers are led into a biased narrative that one astronaut had likely committed a crime by deliberately leaving out information that was mentioned, but not shown. This appears to be the ultimate point of this fake documentary, bias in the media is far too prominent and has hurt lives for the sake of keeping viewers emotionally outraged instead of informed.
Acting throughout the movie was strong, and made it easy to believe that these were real people being interviewed about real events they were involved in. Music held up well setting the tone of the era the event supposedly happened. Knowing it wasn’t a real documentary, made easy to spot that many of the “old” photos were photoshopped. The film took 25 years to complete. It’s hard to tell if the length of time was intentional because it was the initial plan to make it into a documentary style film, or if later they decided to do with footage they had already shot in their youth. Many things about this film certainly keeps you guessing and questioning, but in a good way. While some of the interviewees were introduced, the viewer is not always told who was who or what their connection is to the story, making it a little hard to follow at times, especially with trying to keep up with a lot of other information steadily being fired throughout the film.
As I read into more about behind the scenes of the movie, I able to appreciate what was put together much more. As for someone that knows nothing about it and decides to see this one, they would still get to enjoy the story being told, but may not necessarily see the true subtext of it. THE LANDING has a great message for everyone, as we all find ourselves drowning in media from time to time, so long as you are willing to look for it.
Limited screenings available now.
Don’t believe everything you read,
~BigEyes
