Director David Hoffman marshals his information into an absorbing story, adroitly narrated by Liev Schreiber, that captures the fears and the hopes of the dawn of the Space Age.
Comment
06/20/08
Sputnik Mania (2008)
90 %
Reviews Counted: 20 Fresh: 18 Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7.2/10
Consensus:
Featuring riveting footage, Sputnik Mania is an informative, well-made piece that effectively captures the mood during the height of the Cold War.
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Synopsis: Fifty years ago, at the height of the Cold War, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the earth, bringing America to its knees in awe - then fear. Initially thrilling as a marvel of science, Sputnik was soon viewed by America a weapon of mass destruction. Narrated by Liev... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Starring: Peter Thomas
Reviews
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
The enlightening Sputnik Mania looks at the late '50s, a time that was dominated by Cold War hysteria.
06/19/08
[A] smart, wry look at the American enthusiasm for and then paranoia over the first manmade satellite to orbit Earth... [R]ings with a truth that still holds...
06/18/08
Sputnik Mania plays, discreetly, like a negative love story between superpowers. Sure they moved on to other enemies, but they still haven't gotten over each other.
06/13/08
The reigning champion in the archival footage department features great Soviet footage of those days that (hopefully) will never be seen again---the days of the US-Soviet space race.
03/28/08
Hoffman manages to keep the tone light -- even H-bomb paranoia gets a breezy treatment -- though most of his filmmaking choices range from banal to boneheaded.
03/20/08
Clear, comprehensible, polished and articulate, but lacking the gut-punch to raise this portrait of a world-changing event from the level of a museum piece.
03/17/08
Avoids reveling in Cold War kitsch in favor of a serious look one of the most important -- and frightening -- moments in human history.
03/14/08
For those too young to remember, Sputnik Mania documents the fear and anxiety that gripped the United States half a century ago when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite in October 1957.
03/14/08
The archival footage here is great, and the cosmos-conquering craziness will satisfy space-race nuts. But the small budget is obvious, so director David Hoffman couldn't go from the Earth to the moon on every detail.
03/14/08
David Hoffman’s documentary Sputnik Mania is an account of that Soviet satellite’s effect on the American consciousness.
03/14/08
Top Critic
Clips from old television broadcasts make this space documentary entertaining.
03/14/08
Top Critic
reminds us that there was a time in the past when world leaders had morality and values
03/13/08
Sputnik Mania is not riveting; but it is, first and last, informative.
03/12/08
So obsessed with delivering a story about "mania" through overcooked narrative and aesthetic means that one ultimately feels as manipulated as enlightened.
03/09/08
Refreshingly, 'Sputnik Mania' stands back and allows its tale to be told in memorable actuality footage backed with unobtrusive period music.
03/08/08
...when it plays to our sense of selective memory and fills in the blanks on issues long forgotten, Sputnik Mania is masterful.
03/07/08
Filled with funny moments ... it perfectly and even-handedly captures the spirit of the time.
03/04/08
Surprising, Insightful, Informative. We are reminded that an "atmosphere" of fear may be much more dangerous than the threat.
02/26/08
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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