Good Night Oppy

I thought that was going to be far more interesting than it ended up being. The documentary tells us the story of the hugely innovative and ambitious task to send two motorised, solar-powered, rovers to Mars. One called "Spirit", the other the eponymously nick-named "Opportunity". History tells us what happened, but I was was very much hoping for more meat on the bones of this astonishing feat of science and engineering than is delivered in this rather dry, vox-pop style, recounting of the project. It is interspersed with occassional actuality, but there is a real paucity of that as this trundles along in a remarkably sterile fashion delivering little of the senses of excitement, frustration and enthusiasm that must have been experienced by...

By: Louisa Moore / www.ScreenZealots.com _ This film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival_

I cant remember the last time I was so emotionally invested in a movie, especially a documentary, than I was with Good Night Oppy, director Ryan Whites inspirational and entertaining tale of NASAs Opportunity rover. In the summer of 2003, the space agency launched twin robots on a journey to Mars to search for evidence of life. This film tells the true story of Oppy, her sister Spirit, and their incredible adventure on another planet.

Its an irresistible American success story of teamwork, dedication, brainpower, and resolve. After carefully planning and designing the rovers, NASA sent the twins to the Red Planet on a gr...