Dark Side of the Moon (documentary)
Encyclopedia
Dark Side of the Moon is a French
mockumentary
by director William Karel
which originally aired on Arte
in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11
Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the CIA with help from director Stanley Kubrick
. It features some surprising guest appearances, most notably by Donald Rumsfeld
, Dr. Henry Kissinger
, Alexander Haig
, Vernon Walters, Buzz Aldrin
and Stanley Kubrick
's widow, Christiane Kubrick
.
, and his surviving brother-in-law, Jan Harlan
, in the making of the film, both of whom appear using scripted lines. Karel also had the co-operation of some NASA personnel (also using scripted lines) and used recycled footage of staff of President Richard Nixon, including Rumsfeld and Kissinger. Among many giveaways (mainly in the second half) that the entire film is a hoax in jest, there are interviews with people named after characters in Kubrick films, such as a film producer named "Jack Torrance".
working closely with Hollywood at the time of the Moon landings. Over the course of the tale, Karel postulates that not only did Kubrick help the USA fake the moon landings but that he was eventually killed by the CIA to cover up the truth.
It is finally revealed that this is a mockumentary as the end credits roll over a montage of blooper
reels, with the main participants laughing over the absurdity of their lines or questioning if particular ones would give the joke away too soon. Besides being a comedic documentary, it is also an exercise in Jean Baudrillard
's theories of hyperreality
. In a 2004 interview, the director was asked why he would elect to make a film "closer to a comedy than a serious film"; Karel replied that in the wake of having made serious documentaries, the objective was "de faire un film drôle" (to make a funny film).
Several of the fictitious interviewees, such as Dave Bowman, Jack Torrance
, and Dimitri Muffley are named after characters from movies directed by Kubrick. There are also references to films by Alfred Hitchcock
, as both Eve Kendall and George Kaplan are character names in North by Northwest
, and Ambrose Chapel is a location in the 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much
. The fictitious characters used in the interview are listed in the credits along with the names of the actors portraying them. For example, the rabbi is listed as W. A. Keonigsberg (W. A. probably indicating “Woody Allen,” as Koenigsberg is Woody Allen’s birth name) and the character is played by Binem Oreg.
In addition to the increasingly incredible claims made as the film progresses, several factual errors of note are introduced by the narrator, perhaps intended as clues for the viewer:
The soundtrack also includes the song "The American Dream" from Wag the Dog
by Barry Levinson
, a fiction feature about a secretly government-commissioned Hollywood production of a fake war.
Australian broadcaster SBS television
aired the film on April 1 as an April fools' joke
, and again on 17 November 2008 as part of Kubrick week. It was aired again on 27 July 2009, perhaps to coincide with the anniversary of the moon landing.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
by director William Karel
William Karel
William Karel is a French film director and author. He is known for his historical and political documentaries.- Biography :After studying in Paris, Karel emigrated to Israel where he lived for about 10 years in a kibbutz...
which originally aired on Arte
Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the CIA with help from director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
. It features some surprising guest appearances, most notably by Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
, Dr. Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, Alexander Haig
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
, Vernon Walters, Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
and Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's widow, Christiane Kubrick
Christiane Kubrick
Christiane Kubrick is a German actress, dancer, painter and singer. She was born into a theatrical family, and was the wife of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick from 1958 until his death in 1999.-Biography:...
.
Production
Karel had the co-operation of Kubrick's widow, Christiane KubrickChristiane Kubrick
Christiane Kubrick is a German actress, dancer, painter and singer. She was born into a theatrical family, and was the wife of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick from 1958 until his death in 1999.-Biography:...
, and his surviving brother-in-law, Jan Harlan
Jan Harlan
Jan Harlan is a film producer and the brother of Christiane Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick's widow. He was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on May 5, 1937....
, in the making of the film, both of whom appear using scripted lines. Karel also had the co-operation of some NASA personnel (also using scripted lines) and used recycled footage of staff of President Richard Nixon, including Rumsfeld and Kissinger. Among many giveaways (mainly in the second half) that the entire film is a hoax in jest, there are interviews with people named after characters in Kubrick films, such as a film producer named "Jack Torrance".
Plot summary
The tone of the "documentary" begins with low key revelations of NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
working closely with Hollywood at the time of the Moon landings. Over the course of the tale, Karel postulates that not only did Kubrick help the USA fake the moon landings but that he was eventually killed by the CIA to cover up the truth.
It is finally revealed that this is a mockumentary as the end credits roll over a montage of blooper
Blooper
A blooper, also known as an outtake or boner is a short sequence of a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms of misspoken words...
reels, with the main participants laughing over the absurdity of their lines or questioning if particular ones would give the joke away too soon. Besides being a comedic documentary, it is also an exercise in Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer. His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and post-structuralism.-Life:...
's theories of hyperreality
Hyperreality
Hyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies...
. In a 2004 interview, the director was asked why he would elect to make a film "closer to a comedy than a serious film"; Karel replied that in the wake of having made serious documentaries, the objective was "de faire un film drôle" (to make a funny film).
Several of the fictitious interviewees, such as Dave Bowman, Jack Torrance
Jack Torrance
Jack Torrance is a fictional character, the antagonist in the 1977 novel The Shining by Stephen King. He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1980 movie adaptation of the novel, and by Steven Weber in the 1997 miniseries. The American Film Institute rated the character the 25th greatest film...
, and Dimitri Muffley are named after characters from movies directed by Kubrick. There are also references to films by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, as both Eve Kendall and George Kaplan are character names in North by Northwest
North by Northwest
North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...
, and Ambrose Chapel is a location in the 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name....
. The fictitious characters used in the interview are listed in the credits along with the names of the actors portraying them. For example, the rabbi is listed as W. A. Keonigsberg (W. A. probably indicating “Woody Allen,” as Koenigsberg is Woody Allen’s birth name) and the character is played by Binem Oreg.
In addition to the increasingly incredible claims made as the film progresses, several factual errors of note are introduced by the narrator, perhaps intended as clues for the viewer:
- John F. Kennedy’s “We choose to go to the moon” speech was in 1962, not 1961 as was claimed.
- Luna 9 landed on the moon in February of 1966, but the narrator states it was in January.
- Korolev died following surgery to remove a polyp from his intestines, not from a tonsillectomy as is claimed.
- Lyndon Johnson is said to have been the Governor of Texas – an office he never held.
- Likewise, Richard Nixon is erroneously stated as having once been the Governor of California.
- The narrator implies the Cape was selected in part due to the George Bush family influence in Florida, yet no Bush had any connection with Florida until 1980 when Jeb Bush moved his family there. The Cape, however, had become the new missile test facility by 1950.
The soundtrack also includes the song "The American Dream" from Wag the Dog
Wag the Dog
Wag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer...
by Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...
, a fiction feature about a secretly government-commissioned Hollywood production of a fake war.
Characters
- Jack TorranceJack TorranceJack Torrance is a fictional character, the antagonist in the 1977 novel The Shining by Stephen King. He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1980 movie adaptation of the novel, and by Steven Weber in the 1997 miniseries. The American Film Institute rated the character the 25th greatest film...
is a fictional character in Kubrick’s The ShiningThe Shining (film)The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
—not a Hollywood Producer and is played by David Winger. - Jan HarlanJan HarlanJan Harlan is a film producer and the brother of Christiane Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick's widow. He was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on May 5, 1937....
is Christiana Kubrick’s brother. You will find the two discussing the “plot” of the film with Christiane Kubrick sitting on the same couch with Harlen. - David Bowman is a fictional character in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey2001: A Space Odyssey (film)2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
, not a real astronaut and is played by Tad Brown. - Maria Vargas (lead character in The Barefoot ContessaThe Barefoot ContessaThe Barefoot Contessa is a 1954 film about the life and loves of fictional Spanish sex symbol Maria Vargas. It was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and stars Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner and Edmond O'Brien....
) is played by Jacquelyn Toman who is not Buzz Aldrin’s sister. - Eve Kendall is a fictional character in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by NorthwestNorth by NorthwestNorth by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...
and was not Nixon’s secretary (that woman's name was Rose Marie Woods) and is played by Barbara Rogers. - Dimitri Muffley is a play on the names from Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (Soviet Premier Dimitri Kisov and American President Merkin Muffley) and is not a “former KGB agent.” He is played by Bernard Kirschoff.
- Ambrose Chapel is the name of a place in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too MuchThe Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name....
, not an “ex-CIA agent” who is played by John Rogers. - George Kaplan (mentioned by narrator) is a fictional character within a fictional character in the Hitchcock film, North By NorthwestNorth by NorthwestNorth by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...
. - W. A. Keonigsberg (W. A. is for “Woody Allen,” as Koenigsberg is Woody Allen’s true name) The character is played by Binem Oreg.
Reception
When the film was shown to a group of sociology students studying conspiracy theories, many mistakenly believed that this was a sincere and serious film. Furthermore, moon-landing hoax advocate Wayne Green cited the film as evidence for his views, apparently believing the out of context footage of Nixon staff was really about a moon landing hoax.Australian broadcaster SBS television
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
aired the film on April 1 as an April fools' joke
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
, and again on 17 November 2008 as part of Kubrick week. It was aired again on 27 July 2009, perhaps to coincide with the anniversary of the moon landing.
See also
- Apollo moon landing hoax accusationsApollo Moon Landing hoax accusationsDifferent Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA and members of other organizations. Various groups and individuals have made such conspiracy claims since the end of the Apollo program in 1975...
- Capricorn OneCapricorn OneCapricorn One is a 1977 science fiction thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It stars James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O. J...
- Wag the DogWag the DogWag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer...
- World War III (film)World War III (film)World War III is a 1998 German television ZDF's mockumentary, directed by Robert Stone. It depicts what might have transpired had Soviet troops opened fire on demonstrators in Berlin in the fall of 1989 and precipitated World War III...