THE DISH (2000) *** What problems the Americans cause for others in pursuing trivialities like landing on the moon! Film does a great job of contrasting the casual and relaxed Australians with the intense and meticulous representatives of NASA. Everyone is mocked in such a gentle and loving way that they're all appealing. There were sharp social and political differences in 1969, sure, and they're represented here, but what the film does an incredible job of doing is presenting the reality that, nonetheless, society wasn't as splintered and factionalized yet. Maybe some people were (the Black Panthers and the Nixon elite come to mind), but most people on the street weren't. Differences were recognized as differences, articulated and boiled, but kept in perspective. Apollo 11 was something for all of the world, most of all-all of America, to be proud of, a stunning achievement of a dream of the ages (never mind, for the moment, the devoutly political analysis of Gil-Scott Heron's "Whitey on the Moon"). With a lot of spirited passing going on, and no one hogging up all of the good lines, it's nice to have a consistently impressive cast. Sam Neill and Tom Long stood out for me, but I'd highly recommend hiring any of these people. It would have been too easy to set fire to the climactic scenes with vintage Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin (who, I happen to know, were playing Central Park that night), but I have to say that what Rob Sitch did works even better for an inclusive film like this-a film, after all, more about the common good we all share than the stray bits of genius that catalyze events like moon landings....what I'm trying to say is that, yeah, the film is about the moon landing, but it's even more about simple reactions and relations in response to it...so instead of legends we get Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the Youngbloods, and "Classical Gas." Oh, and I've never been so proud to hear the American national anthem performed by a teenage Australian rock band with a horn section.