The documentary film-maker James Bluemel has a technique that is more radical than it sounds: he lets the people who were there at the time do the talking. His preference for frontline witnesses, rather than decision-makers who wielded influence from afar and have reputations to protect, has previously enabled his Once upon a Time strand to show unique perspectives on Iraq and Northern Ireland.
Political discourse often forgets how conflict defines or destroys the lives of the innocent folk it touches, so it’s easy to see how those testimonies have value – and Once upon a Time has ended up offering big-picture analysis via their mosaics of personal experience. How will that work, though, with space exploration … an extraordinary activity only a select few choose to pursue?
