Is The Movie “First Man” About the United States or is it About the World?

“First Man,” a biopic detailing Neil Armstrong’s journey to the moon, has sparked controversy by omitting a particular part of that journey — and Buzz Aldrin, who stepped foot on the moon alongside Armstrong, has voiced his opinion.

Its recent debut at the Venice Film Festival has already sparked discussion.

“First Man,” a biopic detailing Neil Armstrong’s journey to the moon, has sparked controversy by omitting a particular part of that journey — and Buzz Aldrin, who stepped foot on the moon alongside Armstrong, has voiced his opinion.

A scene that omits the planting of the American flag was called out as showing a lack of patriotism, but this isn’t true. In fact, the flag is prominent in several scenes throughout “First Man” and is shown on the moon in the movie. However, the team behind “First Man” decided to not include a specific scene of Armstrong and Aldrin planting the flag on the moon in the film. Sen. Marco Rubio called the move “total lunacy” on Twitter, with support from others on the platform.

This is total lunacy. And a disservice at a time when our people need reminders of what we can achieve when we work together. The American people paid for that mission,on rockets built by Americans,with American technology & carrying American astronauts. It wasn’t a UN mission.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 31, 2018

But right-wing Twitter users aren’t the only ones to have issues with the decision — Aldrin himself seems to have publicly reacted to the decision to omit the flag-planting scene. While Aldrin didn’t make a public statement per se, he did tweet photos of him and Armstrong planting the flag on the moon.

Aldrin published a tweet at the same time that the “First Man” controversy arose, so it has been interpreted by many to mean that Aldrin disagrees with the film’s choice to leave out the flag-planting scene. But not everyone shares this opinion of the film.

Ryan Gosling, who stars in the film as Neil Armstrong, said at the Venice Film Festival that the moonwalk “was widely regarded not as an American, but as a human achievement.”

Additionally, Armstrong’s sons, Rick and Mark Armstrong, along with James R. Hansen, the author of “First Man,” released a statement supporting the decision to not focus on the flag-planting in the film. “This story is human and it is universal. Of course, it celebrates an America achievement. It also celebrates an achievement ‘for all mankind,’ as it says on the plaque Neil and Buzz left on the moon. It is a story about an ordinary man who makes profound sacrifices and suffers through intense loss in order to achieve the impossible,” the group said.

To clear up any confusion about why the production decided to leave out the flag-planting scene, “First Man” director Damien Chazelle said, “To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America’s mission to the moon — particularly Neil Armstrong’s personal saga and what he may have been thinking and feeling during those famous few hours.”

By focusing on other aspects of the moon landing, Chazelle hopes to show aspects of Armstrong and the moon mission that is less frequently seen in the media.

Reprinted with annotations and edits from Space.com