I only finally got around to seeing this film right before it went to video. Fine. Rent it. Because The Dish is a delight, a laid-back look at the four mellow scientists (led by Sam Neill) who ran the enormous satellite dish in Parkes, Australia and were responsible for transmitting the first live images from the Apollo 11 moon landing to the world.
There's not much high drama or suspense – history has proven that everything turned out all right – but so what? The characters are so richly detailed, and the film (directed by Rob Sitch but "conceived, written and produced" by Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner – who would all go on to write the hilarious travel guide parody Molvania – and Jane Kennedy) so lovingly captures the era, and the one week in a turbulent time where all the world shared in an inarguably positive experience, that you can't help but fall in love with the film. It's something to see when Grandma's over and she wants to watch a movie with the family. The Dish is lighter than air, but its wistful nostalgia is genuinely touching.