The Phenomenon is Phenomenal!
Some Highly Recommended UFO Documentaries
Title: The Phenomenon
Director: James Fox
Format: Documentary
Where to watch: Tubi or Pluto (free with ads), Apple TV (rent $3.99)
I’ve watched a lot of documentaries on the UFO phenomenon, and they usually aren’t great. Until recent years, the production quality of these films generally relegated them to being untrustworthy and pseudoscientific at best. Often, they are retelling the same stories of the lore with a slight twist to sell it as “new” information. Other times, they pad the running time with old stock footage from NASA and half-baked stories from questionable sources.
Don’t get me wrong, I have a very low bar of expectations when it comes to paranormal documentaries. I never expect much more than something to tantalize my imagination with unexplained mysteries and entertaining thought experiments. However, part of that fun IS imagining the possibility that some of this phenomenon exists side-by-side with us in our daily lives, and when a documentary can sell that possibility with some authenticity, I do sit up in my chair.
FULL DISCLOSURE: There isn’t a whole lot of new information in this documentary if you are familiar with the lore.
What IS new is perhaps the most comprehensive overview of modern UFO history compressed into two-hours. So, if you are new to the topic, this is a great documentary to get you caught up.
The reason I liked this film compared to other similar summaries was because it replaces the usual time fillers of bad graphics and stock images with some incredible footage both of the phenomena and rarely seen interviews with first-hand witnesses. The filmmaker, James Fox, clearly did his research finding interview footage from across decades with military experts and scientists who studied the phenomenon, many of whom have long since passed away.
The result is a collection of interviews, witness photography, and some better than usual computer graphic re-imaginings of encounters. They all come together to create a compelling narrative starting with the Kenneth Arnold sighting in 1947 all the way to the most recent leaked Navy footage in 2017.
If you are wondering why the Pentagon, NASA, and congress have all been forming committees and task forces recently focused on studying UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena), seeing this high overview perspective of their responses over the decades might help you understand this watershed moment in history.
I also watched the J.J. Abrams four-part documentary, UFO, on Showtime when it came out last year. It also attempts to do a comprehensive deep dive into the history of the subject. It covers some stories and events that are not touched on in The Phenomenon probably due to time. It is worth watching for some great never before seen shots—particularly the alleged photograph of the 2006 UFO over the Chicago O’Hare airport. However, I would still recommend The Phenomenon first over UFO to understand the history for a few reasons.
From what I recall, UFO takes a more anthropological point of view on the mysterious aspects of the phenomenon. It pulls you in as if it is trying to address the mystery, but it then moves more into the realm of trying to provide answers and explanations—many of which are human deception, secrecy, and the psychology of human needs for mysteries.
I do think all of these are compelling arguments that should be considered. There are some great ones referenced in UFO like the story from a documentary call Mirage Men about a government disinformation specialist who specifically spreads false rumors to people to confuse the public about actual classified projects. (Another I highly recommend.)
However, I also found UFO to be a little presumptuous of its own authority, and I am suspicious of its large budget commercial intentions to assuage a more skeptical public with comforting explanations. I may need to revisit it a second time, but it felt as though it had a need to not leave too much open-ended for fear of reflecting badly on the studio or the filmmakers. It is an understandable position, albeit an old-fashioned one.
What strikes me about documentaries like The Phenomenon and The Ariel Phenomenon (which I wrote about in my last review column) is that because they are privately funded, there is a sense of a more genuine search for knowledge and the truth despite bias versus a need to provide a truth because of biases.
While The Phenomenon does take a more biased position on the phenomena being something unexplainable if not entirely non-human, it does not do so at the expense of explaining away the mystery. Rather, it simply lets the mystery exist.
Sterling Martin is an artist and designer living in Chicago, IL. His background includes drawing, writing, theatre, teaching, improv & sketch comedy, and whatever else he can get his hands on to be creative. You can find him on the internet at:
Instagram: @sterfest.art
Website: sterlingmartin.design
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