[PJ-Comix]

If the movie doesn't make him out to be a brooding, moody, near-psychotic jerk like First Man did to Armstrong, it's worth a watch.

Not at all. He came off as a very gregarious sort liked by his colleagues. Great sense of humor. I checked and that categorization of Gagarin at that time was correct. An interview with him by the BBC confirmed that. Unlike many moody Soviets at that time, Gagarin smiled quite a bit. The moody one was actually Titov who was supremely pissed off that he was passed over for the chance to go first.

[x]

I always wondered why any Russians would name their kid "German," given all the hostility between the two peoples.

Later I found out that Russians use "g" for "h," so the guy was really "Herman." Bad enough, I guess.

Plus, "German" in Russian is a different word - one related to the word for mute, dumb, unable to speak.