Age of Disclosure: a Documentary Review - The Truth is Out There...Somewhere

AGE OF DISCLOSURE - Currently Available to Rent or Buy on VOD

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

My Recommendation: SKIP IT/SEE IT. This is a good documentary for those new to the UFO subject to watch as it features a lot of credible people, but for those looking for new info, look elsewhere.

Age of Disclosure, directed by Dan Farah, is a new documentary which makes the claim that the U.S. and other governments have been gathering evidence – including alien craft and bodies, over the last 80 years of extraterrestrial intelligence visiting earth.

I have been immersed in amateur “UFO studies” since the 1980s…back when they were called UFOs and not UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena). UFOs were for the majority of that time a fringe topic, spoken about either in jest or in sincere and sometimes frantic whispers.

But ever since the esteemed New York Times published an article in 2017 that reported that the U.S. Navy had a multitude of encounters with very strange and advanced technology right off the coast of the United States – and had videos of those encounters, then the UFO topic has become much more acceptable to discuss in serious company.

Once the press gave UFOs legitimacy, Senators and Congressman have been drawn to the subject and have given it even more credence by holding hearings and things of that nature.

Since 2017 there have also been a plethora of whistleblowers who have told stories of first-hand UFO encounters, government programs, crash retrievals, body retrievals, reverse engineering and the like.

The most front facing person in the UFO story since 2017 is undoubtedly Lue Elizondo, a former Special Operator in US military intelligence who claims he was put in charge of a government program called AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) – which investigated UAPs and if they were a threat to national security. The answer to that question is a resounding “YES!”

Elizondo has been on all of the TV networks, lots of podcasts and been the focus of many documentaries since 2017. In Age of Disclosure, he is essentially the star, guiding viewers through the dark corridors where UFO information and government power collide. Elizondo tells a stark tale, one filled with intrigue, corruption, and even murder. Quite the story.

As someone who is in many discussion groups regarding UFOs I can attest that Elizondo is a polarizing figure. His military and intelligence background give him a certain stature and credibility, but that same experience also makes him untrustworthy in the eyes of some. Why is that? Well, as an intelligence agent he was…or is…a professional liar trained in the art of deception and propaganda.

Is Elizondo lying and deceiving the public now regarding UFOs and plots and conspiracies and murder? Your guess is as good as mine…but mine says, “yes, he is lying”. I say that as someone who believes that UFOs do exist, that “alien” intelligence has come to earth and is still here now and that government knows it.

So, if I believe, in general, the story that Elizondo tells, then why do I think he is up to no good? I do not know the exact reason Elizondo is doing the things he’s doing, but I get the sense he is a nefarious player in this game, meant to, at a minimum, muddy the waters, if not be an out and out distraction.

What is odd about Elizondo is that he constantly says that he knows so much secret and powerful information about this topic but he’s not allowed to say what it is because that information is “classified”. Essentially, what he is saying is, “trust me, bro!” No thanks.

In Age of Disclosure Elizondo makes the claim that a secret government cabal runs things and even presidents don’t know the truth. I think that is probably accurate not just regarding UFOs but a lot of other things. The problem though is that Elizondo also claims that there was a meeting of the 27 people who run things, and they seriously debated murdering Elizondo – as they have done to other people, because he is a threat to their power. Quite a claim.

I have no problem with a claim like that as governments kill people…routinely….without due process or anything like it. The problem I have is that Elizondo says in the documentary he won’t reveal the code names of those 27 people. Hmmm. Why not? These people are plotting to kill you and you are protecting them? Strange. Elizondo then says that if he is found floating in the Potomac that he “didn’t kill himself.” Okay…so these people are real and they still might kill you but you won’t even tell us their codenames – which is a good thing to know if Elizondo does end up floating in the Potomac? Elizondo also just says that this shadowy group has killed other people, but he doesn’t say who they killed – which is kind of an important detail don’t you think?

This sort of tortured logic from Elizondo is always unchallenged by UFO afficionados and, more importantly, by the mainstream media, which is why I find it all so…curious.

Beyond the information that Elizondo shares, the other issue I have is that he just seems like a bullshit artist and con-man as he uses all the same old tricks to sell his bullshit without ever actually telling us anything.

This documentary has some very, very serious people in it, and they all act seriously and dress seriously and speak seriously. But Elizondo, unlike all of his fellow compatriots who wear suits, wears jeans and v-neck black t-shirt that emphasizes his tattooed body and his fat/muscled arms. It all screams unprofessionalism, and reeks of a desperate narcissism and “look at me!” mindset.

Besides Elizondo there really are some major league people in this film that lend a great deal of credence to the topic.

First off is Marco Rubio of all people. Rubio, the former senator from Florida and current Secretary of State, is someone I loathe with the fury of a thousand suns, but in Age of Disclosure he acquits himself extraordinarily well and comes across as not just reasonable but very thoughtful and serious – things I never thought I’d say about him. And the fact that a poll-cat politician like Rubio would get out in front of this topic and spend some of his credibility on it says something.

Other very serious people spotlighted in the film include Stanford University Medical School professor Garry Nolan, who is one of the more compelling voices in the entire UFO discussion in general, as well as quantum physicist Hal Puthoff and astrophysicists Eric Davis – both beacons of knowledge, wisdom, reason and experience.

Also featured are the Navy pilots who interacted with the alleged UFOs, Commander David Fravor and Ryan Graves as well as US Navy Chief Oceanographer Tim Gallaudet, all of whom are extremely credible.

Less credible is Christopher Mellon, a former Undersecretary of Defense who has years of experience in the Pentagon and intelligence. Mellon comes across as a very smart, well-informed, very reasonable person, but his professional background in intelligence, and his family – the famed Mellon banking family, scuttle his credibility in my eyes despite his serious presentation.

As for the documentary itself…it is well put together, it looks professional – with the notable exception of Elizondo, and it puts forth credible people and credible looking people to make the case that UFOs are real, the government knows about them and is hiding what it knows, and a vast conspiracy is operating behind the scenes to keep us all in the dark and under their thumb.

But with that said, if you’ve been following this topic as long as I have, or even in just recent years, then you will come to find that no new information is shared or revealed in this documentary. It is more of the same of – “I know all of this amazing stuff but I just can’t tell you - sorry!!”

If you are new to the topic or if you are a grizzled vet like me but want to bring a newbie into the discussion, this could be a good place to start as it has lots of serious people in suits with loads of credibility that normies will find compelling. U.S. Senators and congressman and military leaders talking about UFOs being real is powerful stuff to John and Jane Q. Public who have been conditioned for nearly a century to laugh at this stuff – so Age of Disclosure could help break that conditioning.

If you really wanted to put together a starter pack for a newbie to get into and understand the UFO issue, I would say start with Out of the Blue – James Fox’s masterful 2002 documentary that is the Citizen Kane of UFO documentaries. I’d follow that up with Fox’s 2009 film I Know What I Saw. I’d also throw in Jeremy Corbell’s intriguing 2018 documentary Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers.

I would conclude the UFO education of a newbie by having them watch the 2024 four-part documentary series from JJ Abrams’ production company, Beyond: UFOs and the Unknown. This series is as good as it gets, especially for those who are well versed on the subject.

As for Age of Disclosure, this film came with a lot of hype and a lot of speculation that it would, in fact, lead to actual disclosure from the government regarding aliens. I’d like for that to be true, and even cynical and skeptical old me perks up my ears when I hear people saying Trump is soon going to make a statement declaring that we are not alone. But the truth is…I doubt it.

The way these things have gone in recent years is that some person will come forward, like whistleblower David Grusch, or some documentary will come out, or some earth-shattering interview will occur, or a major government hearing will take place, and there will be a lot of sound and fury and ultimately it all signifies nothing.

The standard practice is that things get heightened, the fever rises…and then it subsides and absolutely nothing changes in any way, shape, or form. Whistleblowers come forward but don’t actually blow the whistle, insiders speak out but don’t actually reveal inside information…and the saga on and on.

I’d like for a wildcard president like Trump to spill the beans but the truth is he is a charlatan and just like with the JFK assassination, and the Epstein files, and all the rest, Trump will huff and puff and blow nothing but his marginal mandate – or if you believe the internet rumors – Bill Clinton.

So once again we reach a heightened moment in regards to UFO disclosure and once again that moment passes with everyone left in the dark and the powers that be left in charge. Sigh.

My recommendation regarding Age of Disclosure is it is somewhat worth seeing but to wait until you can watch it for free when it hits a streaming service and don’t do what I did which was buy it on VOD – the bottom line is that while it has some usefulness, especially for those new to the subject, but it ultimately it really isn’t worth paying for.

©2025

UFO Week - The Program: A Documentary Review

UFO WEEK - THE PROGRAM

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My Recommendation: SEE IT. An informative and worthy effort from James Fox, one of the very best ufo documentarians in the business.

Day five of UFO Week is here and today we review the highly anticipated new James Fox documentary, The Program, which was released on December 16th and is available on video on demand.

James Fox is unquestionably one of the very best ufo documentarians working today. He has made five UFO related documentaries in the last twenty-seven years, with The Program being his sixth.

Not all of Fox’s UFO documentaries have worked, but the ones that have, like Out of the Blue (2003), I Know What I Saw (2009) and The Phenomenon (2020), are among the very best ever made.

Fox’s most recent film, Moment of Contact, was a major disappointment as it never fully came together as a noteworthy cinematic venture, and so I was very apprehensive about his newest film.

I am glad to say that The Program, while not nearly as good as the masterpiece that is Out of the Blue, is certainly a top-notch document and important piece of the UFO puzzle for any interested in a serious examination of the topic.

The film, which runs a brisk one hour and forty-two-minutes, opens with a discussion of the “Wilson Memo”, a 2002 memo allegedly sent between Admiral Wilson and astrophysicist Eric Davis regarding the secret UFO programs run by various black budget government agencies in conjunction with aerospace and military contracting companies.

The story goes from there and includes discussions with such serious luminaries as Dr. Gary Nolan of Stanford University and Hal Puthoff, as well as lesser-known insiders like former intelligence agency analyst Lenval Logan, DOD research scientist Sarah Gamm, and former Asst Deputy Secretary of Defense Christopher Mellon.

Logan and Gamm in particular make for compelling subjects as they seem like smart people trying to tell the truth while trying to avoid saying anything that would violate any oaths or NDA’s they have signed.

Mellon has become a mainstay in UFO discussions and documentaries and he gives a good interview as he comes across as serious as can be without being a fanatic. That said, I’m a bit wary of the guy with his intelligence background and his insanely rich family background (he comes from the Mellon banking dynasty).

One of Fox’s real strong points as a filmmaker is his ability to properly pace a documentary. His good films flow with an effortlessness that is compelling, and The Program is no exception.

While Fox does appear in many of his films, he is most successful when he is not the protagonist, but just an observer/interviewer.

To his great credit, Fox is masterful with his direct yet easy-going interview style, and he gets the most out of his subjects as is possible.

Another subject examined in the film is the case of Gary McKinnon, a British hacker who broke into U.S. government computer systems searching for secret UFO stuff…and found it. And for his trouble he was arrested and faced extradition and life in prison in the U.S.

What McKinnon discovered hidden away in the government vaults, besides a crystal-clear photo of a UFO, was a list of “non-terrestrial officers” which included names. Quite the unnerving find.

The film then stays in the UK and transitions to a case in Calvine, Scotland where in August of 1990, two Scotsmen photographed a UFO. The British government confiscated their pictures…but one savvy officer held one for himself and kept for thirty years, finally releasing it in recent years.

The photo is extraordinarily good, the story of the two men who took it as told by one of their co-workers, is not. The co-worker sounds like a drunk making up a story as he goes along…and it would’ve been better leaving him on the cutting room floor entirely.

Another issue with the film is the story of Jason Sands, a former-USAF airmen who worked at infamous Area 51. Sands, who was vetted and recently gave private testimony to congress, has footage of a UFO at a firing range, and tells a strange story of an interaction with an alien.

Sands’ story of his alien interaction is definitely outlandish, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Unfortunately, after having watched the film, I’ve since seen Sands interviewed elsewhere where he tells even more outrageous tales about having to execute an alien at the behest of his superiors in order to guarantee his silence about the program in which he worked. This story is just a bridge too far and makes Sands sound like a committed fabulist or a fabulist who should be committed. I wonder if he told that same tale to Fox and Fox wisely kept it out of his film or if it is a new revelation? Either way, I think in terms of credibility it probably would’ve been better for Fox to keep Sands out of his documentary entirely.

The final portion of the The Program deals with the deep state obstruction of disclosure and features the always reliable Rep. Tim Burchett and Mellon describing the undemocratic government within a government that keeps all the secrets. (As an aside about Burchett, I was recently watching an episode of Finding Bigfoot with my son, an Animal Planet reality tv series from the 2010s – and in one episode the crew goes to Knox County, Tennessee to search for bigfoot and the mayor of Knox County – good old Tim Burchett, is there to help out and discuss his interest in the subject. I wholly endorse him being named director of the Federal Department of the Weird, Wild and Wonderful.)

There’s also a very damning display from the repugnant Bill Nelson, a former Senator from Florida and now head of NASA, who puts on a bullshit display that is so transparently dishonest and full of bureaucratic bluster that it is painful to watch. That Fox himself questions Nelson in an open forum, and then does a split-screen between Nelson blatantly lying about whistleblower David Grusch, and Grusch speaking to congress, is a master stroke.

The reality is that deep state despots like Bill Nelson, Admiral Wilson and their ilk are the tyrants of our age. These unelected bullying bureaucrats run the security and surveillance state that is antithetical to democracy and a republic and keeps us in the dark and in our cage.

The Program is about the UFO programs that men like Nelson and Wilson control, and the knowledge they refuse to share because that knowledge is power and they will never give up their unearned power.

The Program is a solid, well-made documentary that is well-worth watching. Unfortunately, it is only available to purchase and not rent, and the purchase price is $17...pretty steep.

The film will no doubt be available to rent at a much cheaper price in the coming weeks, and as good as I think it is, I think it’s worth waiting to rent it a cheaper price than buy at a steep one.

The bottom line is this, The Program is a very good companion piece to Fox’s earlier films, Out of the Blue, I Know What I Saw and The Phenomenon. As a collection, these films make a great starting point for newbies to the subject, and an excellent library of information for more experienced ufologists.

©2024

Encounters (Netflix): A Documentary Mini-series Review - The Truth is Out There...But Not So Much in Here

****THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW!! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS ZERO SPOILERS!!****

 My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

My Recommendation: SKIP IT/SEE IT. Newbies to the UFO story might find this a decent if uneven place to dip their toe into the topic. Viewers more informed on the UFO phenomenon won’t find much useful in this tepid and tame mini-series.

Encounters is the new four-episode docu-series on Netflix that explores four different UFO mass sightings at four different locations across the globe. The series, which premiered on the streaming service September 27th, is garnering some attention because it is produced by Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin.

As someone who has had a longtime interest in the subject of UFOs, and who has read and watched a great deal about the phenomenon, I was excited to see Encounters. With UFOs, or as they’ve now been deemed UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomenon), finally being publicly taken seriously by governments and the media after years of being scoffed at, the opportunity for quality documentaries to inform audiences and initiate further investigation is at an all-time high.

Prior to Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment producing Encounters, other high profile Hollywood producers/directors have stepped into the UFO breach in recent years in similar fashion. JJ Abrams’ 2021 docu-series titled UFO, is one example.

Encounters is very similar in some ways to Abrams’ UFO as both are four-part docu-series, both cover a lot of familiar ground that UFO afficionados will know well, and both are decent enough starting places for the uninitiated to dip their toe into the UFO subject. Unfortunately, both are also, despite their best intentions, middle-of-the-road, rather forgettable projects.

Unlike Abrams’ UFO series, Encounters for the most part stays away from the UFO hot topics that have made headlines in the last five years or so and instead focuses on four mass sightings in recent and not-so-recent history.

The first episode is about the 2008 sighting by hundreds of people in Stephensville, Texas.

This first episode is, like all the others, very well shot and professionally produced. The witnesses presented aren’t just credible but are interesting, and their stories are compelling. Even more compelling is the radar evidence discovered after a FOIA request that backs up the claims of those who saw UFOs and saw F-16s quickly chase after them.

One minor issue I had with the first episode is that it never mentions that Stephensville, Texas is very close to the home of George W. Bush, who was President of the United States at the time of the UFO incident. This seemed a curious omission in recounting the tale.

Episode two covers the 1994 encounter at the Ariel School in Zimbabwe. This incident is fascinating, but the episode is a bit bumpy. For instance, 60 students claim to have seen a UFO and an alien in broad daylight, but one student, who is now a grown man, claims he made the whole thing up and everyone else just went with it and now believe the delusion. I understand wanting to show both sides of an argument, but this lone student seems, frankly, unhinged, and his testimony about it being a hoax feels, ironically enough, absurd in the face of the counter evidence.

This episode is noteworthy solely because it introduces the remarkable Dr. John Mack, the late Harvard psychiatrist who in the 1990s began to take the alien abduction phenomenon seriously.

John Mack’s story is worthy of an extensive documentary all its own, but Encounters is only able to give a brief background on his astounding career and the impact he had on the subject. One can only hope that a more extensive documentary on Mack is produced, but for the time being this quick review in episode two will hopefully pique newbie’s interest in the man and his work.

Episode three examines the 1977 Broad Haven Triangle incident, in which a bevy of Welsh school boys and townspeople witnessed UFOs and aliens. This episode was the weakest of the bunch as it never streamlines its storytelling or clarifies the bizarre incidents in question.

The incident itself is fascinating, as all of the children who witnessed it were quickly separated by skeptical teachers and asked to draw what they saw, and drew the same thing. The counter point is that at that time the culture was awash in UFOs and so all people, not just children, had a foundational understanding of what UFOs would look like and thus rendered them in unison upon request.

Much of the other witnesses in the Broad Haven case tell interesting stories but they feel less compelling, and frankly less believable, than the three other incidents examined in this series.

The final episode looks at the plethora of UFO sightings in Fukushima, Japan after the horrific earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

This episode features the very best video evidence in the series, but also wanders down some pretty bizarre, and frankly, unhelpful paths when interviewing residents of the area.

For example, one woman, a drama teacher and pseudo-spiritualist, claims she is an alien and is inhabiting a body on earth to witness the great transformation that is happening. This woman, who is like every other new age kook I’ve ever met, and trust me when I tell you I’ve met a hefty number of them, suffers from the shadow disease of new age-ism, namely egregious narcissism. Why the producers would include such an obviously low-credibility nutjob like this woman is beyond me as it demeans the topic and diminishes the mini-series.

The spiritual element of UFOs is a big topic in this episode as the cultural differences between East and West are explored, with the East being more open to UFOs as some sort of spiritual phenomenon rather than a physical one.

The Fukushima UFO case is one of the more evidence-based ones, so it makes the producers decision to focus on more esoteric subjects rather than on the actual evidence very counter-productive and dismaying.

On the whole, Encounters is disappointing for someone like me as I know a lot about these incidents already, and the series doesn’t really bring anything new to the fore.

To someone with any background in UFOs, Encounters is decidedly tame and feels rather out of date. If the series came out a decade ago it would’ve felt much more relevant and interesting.

That said, if you spend the majority of your time in the mainstream and are a newbie to the UFO subject, then Amblin’s Encounters could be a decent enough place to dip your toe into the topic, as would be JJ Abrams’ tepid UFO series.

But if you want to take a serious look at the subject of UFOs, I would recommend starting with the work of documentarian James Fox, whose films Out of the Blue (2003), I Know What I Saw (2009) and Phenomenon (2020), are as good and as informative as it gets in the genre.

With those three films as your foundation, you’ll have a solid understanding of the history of the subject and how we got where we are today, and what might come tomorrow.

As for Encounters, despite covering some truly vital incidents, it never rises to be anything more than a brief overview of a topic worthy of so much more.

 Follow me on Twitter: @MPMActingCo

©2023

Moment of Contact: Documentary Review and Commentary

****THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW!!! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS ZERO SPOILERS!!****

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

My Recommendation: SKIP IT/SEE IT. A rather poorly constructed documentary that lacks coherence. Not worth paying to see but if you’re interested in the subject of UFOs, when the movie comes to streaming check it out for free at your leisure.

Ever since 2017, when the New York Times put their establishment stamp of approval on the UFO topic by running a story which contained previously unseen video of UAP’s (unidentified aerial phenomenon) obtained by Navy pilots, UFO stories have been taken more and more seriously by the mainstream media.

The giggles and eye-rolls which accompanied previous reporting on UFOs and the snarky comments about “little green men” have diminished as serious-faced military men and steely-eyed national security people have stepped forward to say, “hey, something really is happening here, and we better figure out what the hell it is!”.

I’m a UFO afficionado who deep down wants to believe…so much so that I do actually believe, but I’m also compulsively, if not pathologically, distrustful of the government, most particularly of military and intelligence agencies. So, I was excited by that NY Times article that started the recent surge of respectability for the subject of UFOs, but didn’t trust the two men who came to the fore as the faces of the UFO respectability program, Luis Elizondo and Christopher Mellon (of THE Mellon family).

Not surprisingly, as time has worn on that 2017 NY Times article has been exposed as being riddled with shocking inaccuracies and intentional misinformation, and Elizondo and Mellon have been shown to be basically the Butch and Sundance of UFO bullshitters.

To be clear, the establishment media, which is just the propaganda wing of the military and intelligence industrial complex, is not “all-in” on UFOs. Hell, just this past week a story ran in the Times that declared that those famous Navy videos were of “drones or trash” according to “unnamed sources”. That article and its sourcing should be a giant red-flag that a great battle is being waged behind the scenes over the UFO topic and the old guard is not going to go quietly into that good night.

The one thing we can be assured of is that Truth will not be on the agenda when the UFO topic is bandied about in the media or by government, military and intelligence toadies.

That most recent cynical Times article poo-pooing UFOs is a predecessor to a UFO/UAP report that is supposed to hit the public this coming week. The report has been getting a lot of hype in the UFO enthusiast community, with breathless yet familiar claims that “disclosure” of alien life and UFO visitation would be coming in the near future, but the “drones and trash” Times article has poured cold water on that utopian notion.

One man who was vociferously declaring that the upcoming UFO/UAP report was going to be very big news was documentarian James Fox.

Fox captured the recent ‘taken-more-seriously’ UFO zeitgeist in his worthwhile 2020 documentary The Phenomenon, which covered the various UAPs that befuddled Navy pilots in the Atlantic and Pacific and were captured on Navy cameras and instruments.

Other filmmakers have tried to follow in Fox’s footsteps. For example, J.J. Abrams produced a four-part docu-series for Showtime in 2021, lethargically titled UFO, but that was a rather forgettable piece of work.

Another Fox UFO documentary is 2009’s I Know What I Saw, which is well-made but not nearly as good as his very first foray into the subject which was his 2002 doc Out of the Blue.

Out of the Blue is the Citizen Kane of UFO documentaries. It’s a fantastically well-made movie and a truly remarkable piece of work that, despite often being somewhat difficult to find, is a must-see for anyone with even a passing interest on the subject.

The bottom line is that Fox is now, and has been for quite some time, the preeminent UFO documentarian and has made a name for himself being the UFO doc guy.

In recent days Fox has once again been in the spotlight. Hell, nowadays you can’t turn around without stumbling across Fox either on social media or TV because he’s out promoting his new documentary, Moment of Contact, which chronicles an alleged 1996 UFO crash in Varginha, Brazil, which included the supposed retrieval of one or two alien beings.

Moment of Contact was released on October 18th and is currently available via Video on Demand on Amazon and Apple, with the price to purchase (it’s not available to rent) being $19.99.

As someone with a longtime interest in UFOs, who is well-read and well-versed on the subject and who is also a fan of Fox’s earlier work, I was excited to see Moment of Contact, but was less-than-enthused to pay $20 for the privilege, so I waited until I got a copy for free from a fellow UFO researcher.

After having finally watched the documentary, all I can say is that I’m glad I didn’t pay for it.

Moment of Contact is easily Fox’s weakest effort in terms of UFO documentaries.

The story of the Varginha UFO/Aliens is as compelling as it gets, as it covers a UFO crash, aliens and alien retrieval, Brazilian and US military intervention and strong-arm cover-up, as well as human death, yet Fox somehow manages to make a documentary about it that’s as dull as dishwater.

Moment of Contact struggles to keep audience attention because it’s simply much too scattered in its focus, incoherent in its narrative and underwhelming in its execution.

The film’s failures are many. For example, it fails to piece together a coherent timeline of events in Varginha back in 1996 on the night of the crash and the days following. Minor mis-steps, such as constantly changing perspective of an overhead map meant to show the space where portions of the incident occurred, highlight the lack of precision and attention to detail that the subject requires. This inability to give the viewer an adequate understanding of the time and space where events took place, makes for a confusing and frustrating viewing experience.

Another minor example is that the majority of people in the film are Brazilians who speak Portuguese. Fox has an interpreter with him and she repeatedly mis-interprets what people are saying to him, which is evident by reading the sub-titles and contrasting that with what she says to Fox. The mis-interpretations are minor, but once again they speak to Fox’s failure to attend to detail and be precise. How can we trust what the film is claiming if we can’t trust what it is literally being spoken on film?

Fox compiles numerous eyewitnesses and they tell compelling stories, but to the film’s detriment, he’s never able to gather any substantial evidence to back up their remarkable claims.

For instance, Fox never uncovers paperwork proving U.S. Air Force flights into the area which would at least make the claim of US military and intelligence agency involvement substantial. Hospital records of the man who allegedly died after coming into contact with an alien, or even his military records, would also increase credibility, but Fox fails to provide them.

I understand these are difficult things to acquire and that subterfuge is the name of the game for officials concerning this subject, but with no electronic data like radar, or official documents – like flight, military or hospital records, then we are left with just witness accounts from regular people and rampant speculation.

At one point Fox brings the mayor of Varginha in and the mayor tells him he thinks the story is true. This mayor has no connection to the case whatsoever, and considering the city of Varginha embraces the UFO story and may be angling to use it as a tourist attraction, his beliefs have less-than-zero credibility.

The rest of the film feels as half-hearted and superficial as that visit from the mayor of Varginha.

Fox has recently been on social media claiming that there are two witnesses who say there is video evidence of the alien captured in Varginha. He claims these people have seen the video and he is working hard to get it, and once he does, he will share it with the audience.

If in fact Fox uncovers video of an alien, then it’s a true game-changer, but until then, Moment of Contact is a rather vapid documentary into the fascinating story of the Varginha incident that does a disservice to the very complex subject of UFOs.

To be clear, I actually believe the story of the witnesses to the Varginha UFO, I just think Moment of Contact fails to feature them together in a coherent and insightful way, and thus ends up not bringing anything of note to the discussion.

If you’re a UFO enthusiast, Moment of Contact will be frustratingly rudimentary and not worth a $20 price tag. If you’re someone new to the subject, the story might be eye-opening, maybe even too eye-opening to be believable. Either way, what happened in Varginha deserved a much better documentary than James Fox’s rather flaccid Moment of Contact.

©2022