Review of Crop Circles Quest for Truth

Introduction

William Gazecki`s two hour documentary on "Crop Circles: The Quest For Truth" is Discovery Channel fodder writ large. Made for theatrical release, the movie has been an eye-opener for many US critics who were introduced to the phenomenon of crop circles by M Night Shyamalan`s "Signs". We on this side of the puddle have been familiar with the sight of strange shapes imprinted in cereal crops for some time, and while the general consensus here seems to be that they are man-made, the Americans are more inclined to take an open-minded approach.

Shot on video, the DVD format is kinder to this impressive documentary, as the tv screen is a more forgiving frame for talking heads than the cinema screen. The bias of the piece is distinctly towards believers, and the sceptics (who seem to have won the argument here) are in the minority.

Certainly I`m of the opinion there`s more to these things than being the work of drunks/ students/ young farmers/ people with too much time on their hands (delete as applicable). One look at the box illustration makes you wonder how could somebody do something like that in the middle of the night with only a flashlight, a compass, a bit of string and a plank (for doing the flattening). For one thing there`s a lot of involved mathematics in laying out the design. The designs are too big to be the work of one or two people. The crop flattening is very neat and even - there never seem to be mistakes. Most importantly why do we never hear of farmers taking potshots at these people or setting their dogs on them?

Gazecki, whose previous works include "Waco: Rules of Engagement" (1997), applies the full weight of science in finding a non-terrestrial explanation. None of the interviewees are treated as, or come across as, cranks. It is also very obvious from the images of crop circles and their analyses that there is more to the phenomenon than meets the eye. However, it is worrying that some of the additional footage included as extras on the disc makes it quite plain that the crop circle fraternity in the UK has been "got at" by people claiming to be with the CIA, and that the Establishment is windy about the subject to the extent of sending military helicopters to "buzz" circle investigators. Now, whether this is all good old-fashioned X-files-style paranoia, I don`t know, but frankly nothing would surprise me.

Video

A great deal of this movie consists of home video footage of crop circles and their attendant phenomena, and is by its very nature rather dodgy. Unfortunately, much of the interview footage suffers from signal manipulation to sharpen up the picture as well, so the overall effect of the production is of watching a home video recording rather than a DVD of a movie. The entire production is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic NTSC.

Audio

The programme is presented in Dolby 2.0 Stereo, with a score by David Hamilton.

Features

There is a trailer and an internet connection to the movie website. There are four mini-documentaries of "additional footage" not included in the movie (presumably for political reasons) that will please conspiracy theorists and worry anybody hoping to get to the bottom of the whole crop circle phenomenon. There are a group of small interviews with the director William Gazecki about issues raised in the documentary, and a "photo gallery" which turns out to be clips of crop circles distilled from the main feature.

Conclusion

A fascinating look into a puzzling phenomena, but which begs more questions than it answers. The interview with Colin Andrews about the CIA and misinformation (at the heart, I suspect, of the British media`s collective take of it all being a hoax) is genuinely alarming.