Lots of Moons: What is the “Film: Dark Side of the Moon”?

20 November 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

“Dark Side of the Moon” is a documentary . . . or at least it was originally intended to be. Instead, the filmmakers produced a “mockumentary.”

What’s a mockumentary? It is a film or television show parody of a documentary. The documentary style is maintained throughout the film, but fiction is substituted for fact with a humorous intention.

Director William Karel set out to produce a documentary on what was thought to be a mystery.

On July 21, 1969, Apollo 11 reached the moon and entered lunar orbit. Two astronauts descended to the surface of the moon landing in the Sea of Tranquility. Six hours later, Neil Armstrong stepped out of Lunar Module and took the first steps on the moon. But . . .

A small but determined group of people assert that no manned mission has ever reached the Moon. The U.S., it is claimed, faked the 1969 Moon landing something like the events presented in a fictional novel and film, Capricorn One, in which NASA claims to have launched astronauts on a mission to Mars. In fact (or, rather, in fiction), the “astronauts” remain right here on Earth where they work on a sound-stage participating in the filming of a fake landing on the red planet.

Capricorn One — Wikipedia

But before the age of computer generated special effects, who could have filmed a simulation so good that it would fool tens of millions of viewers. Conveniently, at the time of the moon landing, director Stanley Kubrick had just completed his film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is said that he consulted with NASA during the production to get the special effects just right.

And what was the director trying to simulate? Scenes of astronauts walking on the surface of the moon. Using his signature special effect technique, front-screen projection, Kubrick’s simulations were impressive. More than rumored, it was asserted by theorists that Kubrick had done the impossible -- filmed and directed the greatest hoax in history.

Scene from 2001 -- Astronauts on Lunar Surface

But when Karel began the project, the theory of Kubrick’s involvement in the filming of a fake moon landing quickly unraveled. When you’re a director in the midst project investigating a mystery that turns out . . . not to be a mystery, what do you do? Well, you don’t lose your sense of humor. And Karel didn’t.

He decided to film a fake documentary about the filming of a fake moon landing. His “mockumentary,” Dark Side of the Moon, boasts an impressive cast including Buzz Aldrin, Christiane Kubrick, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Vernon Walters, all of whom agreed to play themselves and, in scripted interviews, pretend that Kubrick really had filmed a fake moon landing. The film is spiced from beginning to end with gross historical inaccuracies and miscast characters that tip the watcher off that what they're seeing isn’t true.

If you’re wondering what the film is like. You can watch it on YouTube.