REVIEW - NETFLIX’S TOP SECRET UFO PROJECTS: DECLASSIFIED

Festival director Simon Foster, a film reviewer and founder of the film blog Screen-Space, reviews the new Netflix documentary series...

The boom in streaming providers and the bottomless need for commercial content has seen a surge in the ‘Unsolved Mysteries’-type of programming (including a reboot of Unsolved Mysteries). At just the right time, public interest in that most compelling of unexplainable phenomena - UFOs - has been re-energised by US Government footage made public of fighter jets engaging with aircraft of unknown origins.

That confluence of coincidence was good enough for Netflix, and the 6-part series TOP SECRET UFO PROJECTS: DECLASSIFIED was commissioned. Guided by showrunner Petr Vachler, a veteran Czech producer with a long history in ‘What if…?’ programming, the series debuted on the premium streamer on August 3.

“The series postulates that the visitors are benevolent…”

Episodes 1 (‘Project Blue Book Unknown’) and 2 (‘The White House Cover-Up’) tread over ground very familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in UFO lore (full disclosure - I’m a lifelong UFO obsessive). Names instantly recognisable to those in the know (Nick Pope, Alejandro Rojas, George Knapp, Stephen Bassett and Michael Salla, for starters) are rolled out again to recall the key details of Roswell, the Phoenix Lights, the Betty and Barney Hill abduction - incidents so minutely documented at this point in time as to be self-explanatory.

By Episode 3 (‘Code Name Aurora’), revelations and the investigations behind them are taking on a darker, deeper tone; in Episode 4 (‘Hacked and Leaked’), insight into the lengths to which The Pentagon will go to protect their UFO data is revealed. The use of alien technology in US military bases and the testimony of those present when officials interact with downed aliens is given some fresh perspectives, although little here is new.

“Extraterrestrial interaction has impacted human cultures for centuries…”

The series is at its most captivating come Episode 5 (‘Soviet Secrets’), which reveals the immense presence that UFOs have in regions beyond the US. Eastern European encounters; UFO agencies in China; legendary sightings in Brazil, Zimbabwe and Australia - Vachler and co-writer Jan Stehlik seem inspired to be free of the familiar beats of western UFO coverage. Episode 6 (‘After Disclosure’) brings the series into the present, with discussion focussed on the ramifications of the New York Times release of US Navy footage (the ‘Tic Tac’ encounter) and how extraterrestrial interaction has impacted human cultures for centuries.

Much of the recounting of human/alien interaction is presented using CG imaging, and the human form doesn’t translate well. But the scale of the spacecrafts, the landscapes they visit, and especially the lithe alien physicality, are certainly convincing. The experience of abductees Terry Lovelace and Calvin Parker are examined in depth and utilise extensive computer art, and it makes for a credible visual representation of the truth behind their memories.

“Roswell, the Phoenix Lights, the Betty and Barney Hill abduction - incidents so minutely documented at this point in time as to be self-explanatory…”

There are some moments when even the most tolerant eyes will roll (“I believe Earth is the Disneyland of the Universe”). But there is also a weight of independent testimony and evidence spanning continents that when presented in a singular document, as it is here, makes for compulsive, and hopeful, viewing. By the final episode, the series postulates that the visitors are benevolent, the reason for their presence here based upon the need to right the social and natural order that has been so corrupted.