In between A to Z, I had to pop in and tell you about the great movie I watched on Saturday night, it was called The Dish and I was unfamiliar with any of the actors, all Australian as far as I know. However, the story was about Australia’s involvement in the Apollo 11 moon mission and some of the difficulties they went through including a hurricane right at a critical moment in which they were unsure whether the dish would stand the wind force. It being like a great big sail when it was positioned to face the moon.The movie is populated with what are described as “quirky” characters which gives a bit of extra interest to the story, but the nail biting moment in the middle of the cyclone when they don’t know if the whole array is going to collapse taking them with it, is a high spot in the story and when the TV pictures finally arrive from the moon it is primarily due to The Dish in Parkes, Australia which is situated in the middle of a sheep paddock. In the credits at the end, they assured us that the array is still part of the NASA organisation and is still in the middle of the sheep paddock.
I especially enjoyed it because I was unable to watch any of the moon landing on TV at the time it happened, I was busy travelling to the airport in Zagreb to catch a plane home to England. If you get the chance, do watch it.
Hope your weekend is going well
Thanks for the tip. I'll put it on my watchlist.
ReplyDeleteI think it is worth buying even.
DeleteI watched and reviewed that film a few years ago. Really enjoyed it! And learned a few things.
ReplyDeleteSo did I Alex. I was in Yugoslavia (as it was called then) on my parent's boat and we had no idea it was even happening til later.
DeleteIf I see it listed I'll have to check it out. I wasn't yet 5 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon & hadn't started kindergarten yet. I remember watching the rockets and I remember watching at least 1 moonwalk but I don't know if it was the first one or a subsequent trip.
ReplyDeleteMake me feel old, do. I was in my early 30's.
DeleteIt may interest some of you that the movie The Dish can be rented, or purchased from iTunes.
ReplyDeleteUh, that sounds amazing. I'll look for it now.
ReplyDeleteI just bought it and watched it again this evening. I do find the Australian accent a tad difficult but it was better the second time.
Delete"The Dish " is one of those quirky movies that I just love. Interesting about the moon landing. I was living in London at the time and a friend and I had gone to Paris for the weekend. We'd no idea it was about to happen and the cheap hotel we were staying at didn't provide television sets - or much else apart from beds. I got back to find my flatmates glued to the TV but by then it was on replay. Still exciting though.
ReplyDeleteI just watched it again and loved it. I heard it on the taxi and then airport bus radios, but it was overlaid with Serbian or whatever. I too saw the pictures when I got back to England but replay like you. It was exciting and I found the movie exciting, especially when they lost the ship.
DeleteYes Jo! I've seen that movie but it was just called "The Dish" in Australia. It was quirky and there's another one by the same writers/producers called "The Castle". It's brilliant and is all about a small man standing up for his rights. So glad you wrote this :)
ReplyDeleteNot quite with you here Pinky, it was just called The Dish here too. Great movie, I will look out for The Castle. However, the subject matter was the reason I enjoyed it so much.
ReplyDeleteI loved that movie. I enjoy learning what goes on behind the scenes for some of what take for granted. One history's most important achievements, and now we can watch it because of some brilliant and tenacious engineers in Australia. True story: an engineer friend of mine worked at that same station in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteTina @ Life is Good
A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014
That's interesting Tina. It surprises me I never heard about the movie before. It is now in my PC library.
DeleteI'll go look that up. I vaguely remember hearing about that before...
ReplyDeleteIf you remember the moon landing, it makes it interesting. It's interesting even if you don't
DeleteI always take your recommendations seriously, Jo. I shall see if I can find that movie.
ReplyDeleteThank you kind sir. iTunes do have it for purchase or rental. I decided to purchase and watched it a second time with even more enjoyment (I had less trouble with the Australian).
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