Volcanic UFO Mysteries Movie Review
Written by Karin Crighton
Released by Uncork'd Entertainment
Written and directed by Darcy Weir
2021, 62 Minutes, Not Rated
Released on January 15, 2021
Starring:
Jaime Maussan as himself
Stephen Bassett as himself
Review:
Do extraterrestrials have an interest in our South American volcanoes? Darcy Weir and Sebastian Maussan believe so and endeavor to prove it in their new documentary, Volcanic UFO Mysteries. It’s an investigation into the subject with Jaime Maussan (yes relation), featuring political activist Stephen Bassett, and footage from volcanic observatories to show the long history of government obfuscation.
They say to put your best foot forward, but I’m not sure the editors have heard that phrase. The documentary opens with an upbeat animated cartoon featuring a British narrator. It then harshly switches to darker images and tones, while an American narrator discusses the state of the pandemic and disasters.
Following the jarring narrator swap, we meet UFO lobbyist Stephen Bassett and his inability to hide judgment on how violent the world has become and how much better he is for knowing that. He is entirely genuine in his answers, but his cagey mannerisms and disdainful attitude are off-putting. And Bassett’s false-consensus ideology that aliens must think exactly as we do when it comes to nuclear arms is ridiculously myopic. Jaime Maussan has a much more professional presence on camera, but not necessarily more convincing. He goes on about his research and evidence he deems “proven” without substantiation, by peers or opposition.
I finally understood the theme of Volcanic UFO Activity when they addressed the different technology available in the past versus now: This issue has been long-standing, but due to activism the FBI released footage of UFO activity in April 2020. It’s still grainy as hell, and we have no idea if Bassett had anything to do with it, but now that we know it’s happened and is still happening, we have the means to get high-definition footage and definitive answers.
(You may have noticed you haven’t heard definitive answers regarding extraterrestrial life since then.)
The subject matter is interesting enough, but they don’t cover pertinent ideas they bring up themselves. Why are only the volcanoes in Latin America visited by spacecraft? Are they not the only ones? If the area is highly magnetic, how does that affect the magnetic meteors that fall to earth and these “appearances” of falling or circling UFOs? Why are all the cameras sooooooo far away from the volcano?
Probably because this documentary is an inside job. The documentary is produced by Jaime Maussan’s son, features Jaime Maussan, uses footage from Jaime Maussan’s self-founded Tercer Milenio news agency, and CGI from its writer/director’s latest film, Being Taken. Other images from civilians don’t share sources. Being made in a vacuum, it proves nothing but how skewed it is.
Volcanic UFO Activity is entertaining for about four minutes at the end when you get to watch the inexplicable videos they’ve collected over time. It’s pretty cool; there is some stuff you just can’t dismiss. But the rest of the film is a pessimist talking down to his audience, unproven evidence, lack of dissenting balance, and CGI footage of alien spacecraft.
Watch that cute first animation and the last four minutes and you’ll get all you need.
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