Customer Reviews

The Red Stuff - The True Story of the Russian Race for Space

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was quite looking forward to this material (VHS)expecting some consolidated story of the early soviet manned programms. Date of release -2003- evoked the hope of seeing rare footages because the story is quite well known - not only never secret propaganda films from triumphal welcome of cosmonauts by top rank party leaders. I am heavily disapointed. The "story" is a compilation of several inteviews with first soviet cosmonauts revealing nothing new, not even K.Feoktistov's dislike of Comunist Party and G.Titov's not being happy not getting the first Vostok seat. The footages used are not always related to Vostok, using Soyuz footage when speaking of Vostok is really for beginners only. Author's added commentary on last moments of V.Komarov (screaming, accusing ...) is based on fairy tale, interestingly, here he did not bother to ask the interviewed cosmonauts.
The bonus part of the tape, The Starman, the life story of Y.Gagarin, is at least a content story using original footages from Vostok programm. On the other hand, majority of interviewed people remained nameless, you see somebody speak but you do not know who it is.
If you want to know the true story of the soviet early manned space program read better some books, you find a lot of excellent ones in Amazon. This compilation is far from it ...

Interestly the DVD surprised me with the ommission of Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova the first women in space there was no mention of her except in passing WHY?,it would been nice to see the film footage of her in training and in space,to add a further insult they mentioned the first dog in space with film footage but not her???.Other that that this DVD has put a piece of puzzle together about the Russian Space program that was hidden from the west and also the Russian public.,I would have like to see more interviews with some of the other Cosmonauts and find out what happened to some of the one's that washed out of the program .The interviews are candid and they talk about some of the problem with the program .The added bonus is a documentary about Yuri Gargain that is worth the price of this DVD..I give 4 stars because of the ommision of Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova.I hope the producers go back and update this DVD.

It's refreshing to see a documentary about the Soviet space program! Yet it turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. It has a substantial array of interviews with surviving cosmonauts, plus others who were involved in the program. But the documentary has almost no narration; it seems to be trying to rely on the interviews to do the narration for it, which often didn't work. My wife said she would have been lost if I hadn't kept filling her in on the details as we went along. The DVD has a bonus film, Starman, about the life and career of Yuri Gagarin. If you watch The Red Stuff and are disappointed, don`t skip Starman thinking it`ll be more of the same. It`s well-narrated and well-explained, and well worth watching. Starman was really what The Red Stuff should have been.

With this a gently paced documentary, the other reviews were mixed, but decided to watch anyway, and I'm very glad I did.

While yes if you are already an experienced space buff you may not learn anything new, the information is accurate, and the only spoken parts are from the various cosmonauts of the "first 20" to be selected. This is poignant watching as several of the cosmonauts interviewed have since passed away in the early 2000s.

I found the recollections of the amiable and talented Leonov, the first artist in space, the most insightful. A poem of his is also recited.

The film has a very slow, dreamlike pace, with lots of continous shots (one in-car shot, through a cracked windshield is very effective) and footage from training, propaganda films, and other instances such as rescue crews desperately trying to revive the crew of Salyut 1.

An earlier reviewer mentioned the lack of Valentina Tereshkova: this is true, but the documentary is centered on the "first 20" selected cosmonauts and their experiences and adventures.

I recommend reading The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team: Their Lives and Legacies (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) before watching this, as you will get a lot more enjoyment and understanding from the film.

Very little background information is given and there is pretty much no introduction. The viewer already needs some background knowledge of the "Space Race" to fully enjoy.

Omon Ra is also quoted.

Este video contiene un excelente material videográfico sobre la vida de Yuri Gagarin, al igual que muestra de una manera muy detallada los inicios de la era espacial soviética.
La biografía sobre Yuri Gagarin en este DVD es la más completa que se haya visto alguna vez en televisión. La calidad de imágenes es excelente y es altamente recomendable para todos aquellos que les gusta saber todo lo que tenga que ver con asuntos espaciales. Es un exclente DVD en verdad, que no debe faltar inclusive en los clubs astronómicos.