I was left with the feeling that I'd just watched A Hard Day's Night. Like the Beatles in that movie, the Blue Angels are shown always together, wearing matching clothes, always smiling, doing exuberant physical maneuvers (although in planes instead of on a grassy field), and traveling from place to place to put on shows for adoring crowds.

Tom and I borrowed The Blue Angels: Around the World at the Speed of Sound from the library, wondering "How do they do that?" after seeing the Blue Angels perform in Seattle. It's a fascinating documentary that shows how the team develops the shows and how they do a meditative mental run-through of each show beforehand while sitting around a desk. Of course, there's lots of great footage shot from inside the canopy that lets you appreciate the pilots' experience of the rolls and other stunts.

The final section shows the Blues visiting several Eastern Bloc countries soon after the Cold War ended. You can see their amazement at the sudden friendliness between societies that were bitter enemies just a couple of years before.