Crop Circles & Signs (2002)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Published by Multimedia 2000

Features:

• None
  

Rating: NR, suitable for all audiences

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Rent it, if only for the 30-second film snippet that raises so many interesting questions.

Crop Circles & Signs, like its companion volume Crop Circles Explained, represents a more traditional approach to documentary film-making than presented in Multimedia 2000's other titles in their Aliens boxed set. With an eye towards presenting a wide array of evidence and information regarding crop circles, it combines interviews, raw footage from the "scene of the crime" (so to speak), and statistical data and scientific analysis of said data, the disc puts a fairly wide picture of the mysterious phenomenon before the viewer.

This documentary presents less of the unusual scientific information about crop circles than its sister film, and focuses more on the experiences of those that have been directly affected by the circles' mysterious appearances and related occurences. From people that have seen dancing balls of light in the wake of a circle appearance, to a stunning moment of home video capturing the formation of a circle on film, the docu covers a lot of ground. People from all walks of life and from several countries are interviewed, including a Japanese student living in England, whose camping trip to the sight of a previous crop circle led to the first formation on record that suggested a receptive intelligence.

But back to the home video mentioned above--I believe myself to be possessed of a healthy skepticism, but must confess that there is a moment of footage on this disc that more people need to see. It is either bona fide evidence that crop circles are no hoax, or it's the cleverest bit of hoaxmanship on record. While filming the unusual dancing lights from a back porch, some home videographer actually witnesses the crop lying down. As in, one moment there is no crop circle and the next moment there is, amidst a swirl of dancing balls of light and rippling grain stalks. I had to back the disc up and advance through it frame-by-frame to make sure I had seen what I thought I had seen.

There are no frills or bells and whistles on the disc, however, and given the relatively short length of both this and M2K's other crop circle title, I couldn't help wondering why they didn't just dump all this on one disc and present a more compelling package to potential purhasers. I'd like to have seen more discussion of the unexplained bit of home video, as it would have been interesting to hear the opinion of someone talented in video manipulation, discussing the possibilities of forgery or vouching for its authenticity. But I guess we can't have our cake and eat it, too. I have to wonder if this little snippet of footage has made the standard rounds and been discounted, or if it's just ignored by the mainstream scientific community because it relates to crop circles.

So look to rent it, if for no other reason than to see the formation for yourself and make a decision about what you believe. If nothing else, it presents some excellent aerial footage of crop circles, which are cool to look at, no matter if you're a believer or not.