Ernie Alderete

I absolutely loved this movie on Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. I've never watched a movie in the Russian language before, but I could not take my eyes off the screen. His story is much more gripping than the American film Apollo 13. It's a shame that Gagarin is not celebrated as a hero and pioneer in our own country. I suppose his story is suppressed here because Russia was our rival in the race for space, but the Soviet Union doesn't even exist anymore, its time to put the cold war behind us and recognize Yuri as a world class hero. The best part of the film in my opinion is seeing the reaction of the Russian people when they hear that Gagarin is orbiting the earth over their heads at that very moment. They pour out of schools, factories, homes, hospitals, and spontaneously celebrate on the streets. Unbridled joy that one of their own had reached the cosmos. Even his own father didn't know it was his Yuri in space! When neighbors tell him his son is in space, he says "it must be another Yuri."