Stylistically, STORY evolves around pictures in which we see Story Musgrave in two different settings - in a stripped-down room and in the woods. Most of the pictures in the film focus on his face. One reason why this approach is so successful is that it manages to evoke the claustrophobia, the limited space, of a space shuttle. Another reason is that the film lets us focus entirely on the way Musgrave tells his story - his intonation, his facial expressions.
There is a certain sense of poetry in Musgrave's serene way of telling his story. The subject matter, the way the story is told, is, however, concrete in nature. Musgrave reflects on how he learned to adapt to the kind of surrounding a space shuttle is, how his body reacted to it, and what it felt like, physically, to return to earth. He tries to find words for describing the blackness of space. In the end of the documentary, he talks about his childhood, his relation to his former wife and the importance of nature.
When I started to watch the documentary, I wondered whether the subject matter would interest me. The film, however, proved to be so much more.
There is a certain sense of poetry in Musgrave's serene way of telling his story. The subject matter, the way the story is told, is, however, concrete in nature. Musgrave reflects on how he learned to adapt to the kind of surrounding a space shuttle is, how his body reacted to it, and what it felt like, physically, to return to earth. He tries to find words for describing the blackness of space. In the end of the documentary, he talks about his childhood, his relation to his former wife and the importance of nature.
When I started to watch the documentary, I wondered whether the subject matter would interest me. The film, however, proved to be so much more.
