 Of course, every war movie, good or bad, is an anti-war movie. It is an assertion Steven Spielberg made following the release of Saving Private Ryan. According to Spielberg, the very nature of showing war and showing the horrors found within it is going to paint it in a very negative light. On the other hand, Francois Truffaut famously said, there's no such thing as an anti-war film. That's because the very nature of cinema is to glamour, showing off heroics and painting it in a very positive light. I'll tie both of these together with a Hitchcock quote. It's a director's job to direct the audience. A director tries to put images on screen that make the audience believe one thing, but at the end of the day, everything that is seen on screen is going to be interpreted differently by every individual watching a movie. A director can try and influence that, and Hitchcock was just as good as anyone at this, but two people can watch the same scene, and one can come away thinking that this is a glamourization of war, and the other thinks that this is a condemnation of war. I bring this all up in relation with First Man, not because it's a war film or anything close to that, but because its main concern is the relationship between sacrifice and success, and finding a balance there and asking how far is too far. The film never blatantly tells us how to feel. In fact, it gives us many different perspectives. Early in the film, Neil seems to be very normal. The film tells us very little about him. We know that he's a hard worker who's willing to put himself into very dangerous situations, he loves his wife, and that's all that we really know about him at first. The film allows the audience to project our own perceptions onto the character. Whatever we think of him, he can be. It's probably worth noting that given the historical precedent of the film, we're going to make assumptions of the character based on the real Armstrong. After losing his daughter Karen, those perceptions start to change as we learn more concrete information about him. Armstrong applies to be a part of Project Gemini. He hides his pain and his trauma away. Neil, I was sorry to hear about your daughter. What I mean is, do you think it will have an effect? I think it would be unreasonable to assume that it wouldn't have some effect. This is his coping mechanism. It allows him to find an escape and to focus on something that is different. He doesn't need to constantly think about his daughter when he is being put through literal hell that is preparing to go to space. However, despite his attempts to not focus on the loss of his daughter, it's always a factor that is there. He never talks about it, but he always clings on to Karen's bracelet. It's the one physical thing that ties her to him. He also ties himself to her with his goal to go to the moon. However, the road to the moon is paved with loss. The very nature of the trip is one of danger and the unknown. It uses under-efficient technology to try and achieve something, and the result is even more death. Pay attention to the slow change in Ryan Gosling's performance. The more that he loses, the more he suffers, and the more he needs to go to the moon. First Man is a movie that isn't about the space race. It makes it very clear that early on to Neil, reaching the moon has very little to do with the Cold War. Why do you think space flight is important? I don't know what space exploration will uncover, but I don't think it will be exploration just for the sake of exploration. If you want to know why I think the film didn't highlight the actual planting of the flag, it's because the film isn't about that. It's about one man's personal struggle trying to go to the moon. In this scene, the first time where he is talking about losing his daughter, he is less focused on the conversation. We had a swing like that back up in Jennifer Hill's, Karen really loved it, and instead looks up to the moon. And before Neil departs, there is one more scene that I want to highlight. Janet, who is equally as affected by Karen's death, is standing in the house and has this conversation with their son. What's wrong? Nothing. Your dad's going to the moon. Okay. She's trying to console him. She's saying that it'll all be worth it once Neil makes it to the moon. But the son simply doesn't care. Can I go outside? Sure. He has his priorities elsewhere, and given his young age and lack of understanding of the subject, cannot find anything significant about going to the moon, and this tears Janet apart. To her, Neil going to the moon means just as much as it does to him. She understands how much it means to him, and when her son shows how little it matters, it strikes her with the realization that it may all be for nothing. And when Neil reaches the moon, there's silence. The film gives the audience minutes to just soak in the nothingness. Although it's never expressly asked, the film is yelling at us. Is this worth it? I don't feel like there's a right answer to this question. Some people may watch the scene and see it as the greatest step in human history, and others may view it as just another step. Upon Neil's return to earth, he is unable to return to his normalcy. The film's story isn't about going to the moon. It's about so much more. It's about loss, and what we value. Going into the movie, every audience member with a hint of common sense and intelligence knows the end result. Armstrong's going to the moon, but what the story is truly about is sacrifice and dedication. Neil loses everything on his way to the moon. When he loses, he has no say, and friends, coworkers, and acquaintances all dying to help put him on the moon. But death isn't the only way in which Neil loses people. He also loses the remainder of his family because of his dedication to getting to the moon. He stops talking with them, he stops spending time with them, and ultimately drifts away with them. He's unable to connect with them because he is so focused on other things. He's focused on the moon so that he can do it for Karen, and that ultimately tears him apart from his family. He's so focused on what seemingly the intangible, getting to the moon, that he isn't focused on supporting his family through the tough time that they are all going through just like he is. Of course, through the sacrifice, he ultimately finds success after completely removing those whom he loves from his life. And I feel like this cuts to the crux of all three of Damien Chazelle's films. It may not be the biggest idea in any of them, but it's certainly present in all of them. And that is, to achieve true greatness, it means sacrificing everything, including and especially relationships with others. In Whiplash, we watch the continued struggles of Andrew, trying to give it his all to achieve greatness, but it isn't until he ends the relationships with both his father and Nicole can he find the success that he wants. Similarly in La La Land, me and Sebastian have a great time together. When they are together, we see them happy for the first time in the entire movie, but ultimately their success is limited. They're able to influence one another, get on the right path where they can find success, but they don't achieve their dreams until after they break up. And in First Man, Neil completely isolates himself from colleagues, friends, and even his family. A combination of emotional distress, trauma, and his work ethic leads him to become a shell of a human, focused on one thing and one thing only. In the end, he achieves it, but the question remains, was it worth it? Learning how hard this really was, how dangerous it was, how much these people sacrificed, it just kind of blew my mind. Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed. If you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of Damien Chazelle. I covered both this and La La Land literally as soon as they were available, and Whiplash was the 12th film I ever covered. So needless to say, I will watch anything and everything that he puts his name on, so please let me know which of his films is your favorite. If you'd like to help me make more videos, consider supporting me on Patreon. A lot goes into making these videos, and every little bit helps. So if you are interested, there's a link on screen right next to my last video, which I looked at The Godfather and how to develop characters. Thank you for watching, and I will see you next time.