I chose to review the documentary Mercury 13. It tells the story of a program run by Randy Lovelace, a scientist at NASA, where he privately recruited 13 women who were put through the same tests and training as the male astronauts. The intended goal was to show that women were just as, if not more, well equipped for space travel as men. If the program had succeeded, NASA might have been convinced to send women into space much sooner. The documentary opens by detailing the lives of the women, who were all aviatrixes. The field of women pilots was pioneered by Jackie Cochran, who tried (but was rejected) to join the Mercury 13 program. Since male astronauts were all pilots, it made sense for female pilots to become astronauts as well. Lovelace tried to prove this, but was stopped when NASA found out about it, and forced him to stop the program. While the Mercury 13 never made it to space, they greatly influenced future female astronauts, even being welcomed as VIP guests to the takeoff of the first space shuttle flight piloted by a woman: Eileen Collins.

I think that the biggest problem with the documentary is that it tells the story completely chronologically. I found it somewhat confusing as it opened by talking about the women’s piloting days. I think it would have made more sense if at the very beginning there was more of an introduction (or teaser) of what this would lead to. Other than this it was a great documentary. It is all told through interviews, which is great, and extremely immersive. It’s filled with absolutely stunning footage, especially some bits of the women, who are all elderly now, flying planes today. The footage is extremely high definition, and beautiful in a way that isn’t quite cinematic, but rather of a more realistic quality. Even the old stock footage used looked incredible, which makes me think that it had been touched up somehow. Both the old footage and footage taken used a diverse and vibrant color palette that I haven’t really seen in non documentary movies. It is a film that never fails to amaze with its visuals. There are a few brief moments of footage of a woman in a sensory deprivation tank that they use to show what it was like, as the pilots had to go through that as part of the program, but as it isn’t original footage and instead a recreation it feels a little odd, and is brought back at strange and certainly unnecessary moments. Despite this, it was still a cool shot. One smart thing the documentary did was how it stylized any shots of old letters or documents. It didn’t just show them with slow pans, but it always showed them on a sort of desk (I couldn’t if it a fake special effects desk, but quite possibly) which added a realistic and immersive aspect to what are usually the most boring shots of a film. Another thing this documentary did well was title cards of things like time, location, or a quick bio. They were all stylized and looked like they were taken out of documents from the period. They gave the pilots short bios, which featured a picture as well as information such as training and air time, which was informative but at the same time not crucial enough that you’d have trouble understanding if you missed it as it passed by. Of course being a documentary that happened a while ago, but not too long ago, this film features one of my favorite things: interviews of people who are now older, put alongside images and old footage of them when they were younger. Besides just being a sort of cool thing, I think it helps bring history into the modern day. The interviewees were all great, whether they were the actual pilots or just the surviving relatives of them. The diverse opinions and experiences of the interviewees also contributed to the documentary as a whole. My favorite example is when talking about the first round of medical tests. Some of the women described it as uncomfortable and grueling, which then immediately and somewhat humorously juxtaposed with a few of the women saying that it was easy or no big deal.

I would greatly recommend this documentary, especially to anyone interested in the space program or feminism. It tells a little known story of women pioneers in a male dominated field at the height of the space race. After the first twenty or so minutes, which were the ones I found a tad disorienting as it just jumped in to aviation without even briefly mentioning the actual Mercury 13 program, I was really able to get into this documentary. It manages to tell the story while still remaining entertaining throughout. One thing that is interesting is how it manages to be a story of the time and the forces of history, as well as one of individuals, as the program and its end can be seen as the result of only the wills of a few people (Randy Lovelace, the Mercury 13, and Jackie Cochran). One amazing thing about the documentary is how much time is taken showing the lead up to and results of the program, as opposed to staying within the actual program itself. In short, it is informing and entertaining documentary about an event that more people should probably learn about.