The Dish

Its not for the heck of it that they say it is important “To be at the right place at the right time”. The scientists / engineers and Parkes, New South Wales, Australia would not have in their wildest of dreams imagined that they would be remotely important. They had the largest radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere alright, build right in the middle of a sheep paddock for making things a little more exotic, but what use would that be to anyone. Least of all NASA. Right? Wrong. They not only find themselves useful to NASA but also at the right time – the 3rd week of July 1969 – The build up to the Apollo XI landing on the moon. Why is that? Because they were the largest in the southern Hemisphere and were to be one of the 3 stations to receive signal from Apollo XI for the world wide broadcast. Houston started the telecast of the moon landing through its receivers in Goldstone and Honeysuckle Creek (Canberra) but a few minutes into the transmission they switched over to the transmission from Parkes because the clarity was far superior to the other sources.


The Dish tracks the build up to the moon landing and the preparations that get underway in a small but insignificant town in South Eastern Australia which in 1969 may have had less than a thousand people residing there. The character sketches for each and every person is strong and begins with that of Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill) who is the head of the observatory or the “Dish Master” as he is fondly referred to by his 2 trusted aides – Glen Latham (Tom Long) and Mitch (Kevin Harrington). The 3 are totally satisfied with life in general between themselves and whatever semblance of family lives that they have and find this sudden attention a little difficult to manage with initially. The initial friction between Glen and the NASA representative Al Burnett (Patrick Warburton) is very obvious. With Al wanting to ensure that everything moves smoothly and therefore double checking, triple checking and if required checking once again. But Glen believes that it is stepping onto his toes. The calming influence of Cliff is what keeps the ball rolling. And then there is the aspect of Mitch being smitten by Janine (Eliza Szonert), a feeling that is mutual but since he is quite a nerd, is unable to pick up the right signals. Even Janine’s brother, Rudi (Tayler Kane) who is the over excited security guard (because he has been asked to keep a gun by NASA security rules) can make out the chemistry between the two.

Rob Stich has beautiful shown all the emotions that go through in a small town when there is a sudden burst of popularity that comes in and that too when they are least bit prepared for it. The characterization of the mayor Bob McIntyre (Roy Billing) and his entire family starting with his wife May (Genevieve Mooy) who is the village newspaper, his elder daughter Marie (Lenka Kripac) who is a severe cynic and doesn’t trust anyone in the government or associated with the government and finally his son Billy (Carl Snell) who is the proudly self proclaimed geek of the family is simply superb. Each character in the movie is well thought out and is there for a reason. This is Stich’s second movie that I have been privileged to watch in as many days and it is just surprising that he has made only 2 movies to date. The 3rd one, 25, is in post production and should be good as well. Superb acting from the entire cast makes it a solid combination and a must watch movie. I give this one 7 on 10.

The trailer can be viewed on http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3817537817/