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Film Reviews May 13, 2001 - The Dish By The verdict: 10/10 ñ A trip to the moon via film Heaven. "The Dish" is a delight from Down Under about the vital role a satellite dish in the middle of a sheep farm in Parkes, Australia played in the Apollo 11 moon landing. Co-writer/director Rob Sitch has fashioned an improbably charming film out of what seems a rather thin subject. In 1969 NASA chose the Parkes location as the primary dish to receive and redistribute the TV images from the moon. Thrilled at the idea of being put on the map with such an important role in the biggest event in scientific history, the entire local populace beamed with pride. Until the small crew (headed by Sam Neill) that ran the dish made a major cock-up and lost the signal just hours before the landing. Lying to NASA about why the signal had disappeared they bought themselves enough time to get back on line and complete their mission. A real gut-check in view of the fact that the guests in town at the time included the Australian Prime Minister and the US Ambassador! It trades heavily on local charm and color and rightly so: from the guileless and proud-as-a-new-father mayor to the band of local teens who break into the "Hawaii Five-O" theme at the presentation of the Ambassador, the film's characters never quite slip into the clichÈs we expect. Often hilariously funny (one scene during the signal outage has one of the crew members and the NASA contact at the station ñ Patrick Wharburton, Puddy from "Seinfeld" ñ using a walkie-talkie and intercom to dupe the visiting Ambassador into thinking he's listening to Neil Armstrong chat about the mission status to Houston) and in some scenes unbearably tense, it even manages to capture the mix of awe, wonder and inspiration on the faces of the waiting world looking on at this remarkable accomplishment. Not unlike what you'll feel watching this superb little film.
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