Apollo 13 (1995)
They don’t come more uplifting than this. Quite simply, this is a film that reminds us what we are capable of. While we spend our days fighting over money, oil, land and religion, we forget that – for a while, half a century ago – we started sending human beings to the moon in a tin can. President Kennedy set the goal, impressive minds rose to the challenge, and man walked on a surface other than Earth. It remains one of the most mind-blowing things, to look at the moon hanging in the night sky, and know that human beings have been there. It’s mind-blowing, but not the only inspiring tale to come from that time. In many ways, it is perhaps more inspiring to view the tale of Apollo 13 – whose crew flew to the moon, but nearly didn’t make it back.
This is a story that makes you proud to be human – even in these awful, dark times – because it stands as a record of a moment in history when we achieved the seemingly impossible. We sent more men to the moon and, when their craft began to break down in the depths of space, we brought them back, alive. These men, who came heartbreakingly close to their dream, only to watch it sail past the window – then worked with those on Earth to get home. Those on Earth – including an astronaut bumped from the mission – worked together to find solutions that would save the lives of their colleagues. Those men survived. Our journeys to the moon did not.
But, for that brief period, humanity was incredible. Yes, there was continuing global conflict – there always is – but we were focused on something other than killing each other. We were focused on the moon, and it made us a better species. Apollo 13 is an opportunity to revisit that time and hope that, maybe, we could be that better species again one day.