Comments on: Dark Side of the Moon

Dark Side of the Moon

hortense — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 21:57:49 -0800

Stanley Kubrick's involvement in the space program. Did we go to the moon? Donald Rumsfeld,Alexander Haig and Henry Kissinger tell all. via

By: hortense

hortense — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:01:31 -0800

I am playing this one straight so as not to spoil it. The ending credits finally give it all away.

By: newfers

newfers — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:24:08 -0800

Do I have to watch all 52 minutes to see the end credits and "get" the joke? I dunno, that's a lotta work. Seriously, it is. I've got Judge Judy episodes on the TiVo to watch. But anything Kubrick-related is cool, so I will eventually watch the full video! Thanks for posting!

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:48:38 -0800

This is incredibly well done.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:03:51 -0800

Definitely worth watching. Thanks, hortense.

By: hortense

hortense — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:05:06 -0800

I am not sure FPI thinks it is a joke!

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:38:15 -0800

A joke? These are peoples lives.

By: aladfar

aladfar — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:32:42 -0800

Extraordinary! I was getting all up in arms pissed off about it. Who are these people!? I figured out what was going on as the film drew to a close, but I was perfectly wound up for a while. It's so good, I was able to set aside my usual VideoFilter indignation.

By: zorro astor

zorro astor — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:41:25 -0800

This was very clever.

By: jiawen

jiawen — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 02:41:15 -0800

Isn't that "We Guard the American Dream" song taken from Wag the Dog (about, among other things, the government faking footage to ? And David Bowman is the main character of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dimitri Muffley? Muffley was the president in Dr. Strangelove. "He had gone insane and cut himself off from all contact with the outside." Maybe a couple of those "Vietnamese" people were actually Vietnamese. The narrator can't help but do his American accent. There are hints all the way through.

By: jiawen

jiawen — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 02:41:46 -0800

...to manipulate public sentiments.) Grr, poor editing.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 02:47:15 -0800

Do I have to watch all 52 minutes to see the end credits and "get" the joke? The joke is already pretty obvious when they play back the "real" conversation that took place on the moon. I still watched the whole thing just because it was so mind boggling that they got Rumsfeld/Aldrin/Kissinger to take part in it.

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 06:03:47 -0800

Well, thanks for nothing.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 08:08:12 -0800

I didn't see it as Rumsfeld/Aldrin/Kissinger cooperating so much as being edited to appear to cooperate. There was a lot of "he did this" and "he said that" without using names. I do wonder whether those clips were taken from other things, or the director did specifically interview them for this film, but asked questions about other things to give him material to edit. Interesting... thanks for the post.

By: condour75

condour75 — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 08:09:56 -0800

Well I don't think Rumsfeld / Kissinger / Haig knew what they were taking part in, I think they thought they were taking part in a documentary about the various, real, Nixon paranoia-fuelled hijinks. Great link, though I think if no one had told me it was a joke, I probably would've turned it off in the first 5 minutes.

By: condour75

condour75 — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 08:35:17 -0800

uh, what the deej said.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 08:36:42 -0800

You said it better.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 08:54:48 -0800

"Kissinger flattered him, telling him that Dr. Strangelove was one of Nixon's favorite films"

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 10:46:27 -0800

Fun, thanks!

By: storybored

storybored — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:24:06 -0800

Great little exercise on the use of propaganda techniques in documentaries.

By: furtive

furtive — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:53:53 -0800

That was fantastic. They had me up until a little after Chapel appeared, although there were two clues that I shouldn't have ignored: 1) the speech for "one small step for man" is well known to be "one small step for A man" and 2) The photo of Kuberic on the moon is in colour on a a black and white photograph (supposed to be on same role of film as the photo preceding it). Excellent documentary.

By: pmurray63

pmurray63 — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:33:36 -0800

Thanks for posting this. I read about it just after the CBC aired it, and wished I had seen it. The names of the interview subjects and other characters are an amusing tipoff to any film buff.