The Dish
Year: 2000
Studio: Working Dog, Distant Horizon
Director: Rob Sitch
Cast: Sam Neill, Patrick Warburton, Kevin Harrington, Tom Long, Eliza Szonert, Roy Billing
Crew: Rob Sitch (Screenplay), Jane Kennedy (Producer), Santo Cilauro (Producer), Rob Sitch (Director), Santo Cilauro (Screenplay), Jill Bilcock (Editor)
Runtime: 101 minutes
Release: Oct 19, 2000
IMDb: 6.72/10 by 199 users
Popularity: 3
Country: Australia
Language: English, Français
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0

I may have watched this Aussie film much closer to when it came out, since have always like Sam Neill, but I had no memory of it and we gave it a look. It is very entertaining in a quiet way. The bursts of humor are short, occasional and subtle, and it works. Of course it is based on actual events and feature a few news archive clips as well as actors playing historical characters, sometimes almost as a cameo. It features some restrained tension and suspense as the crew at the telescope try to live up to their commitment to passing audio and video from the moon landing on to NASA and the world. Among the supporting cast we also have a radical political daughter and a clumsy young couple trying to initiate a new romance. It all adds flavor to the main plot.