Movie Review - 'The Phoenix Lights'

The Phoenix Lights Directed by Lynne D. Kitei Not Rated

I can't say with any certainty whether or not there are UFOs, as in alien visitors from other planets. I can't say with any certainty whether or not there is life elsewhere in the universe. On the second point, I believe that the odds are certainly in favor of civilizations on other planets. There are just too many worlds in too many galaxies for me to think otherwise. On the first point, I saw what I could only define as an unidentified flying object once. I believe it was a military aircraft of some kind, but I don't know for sure. You see funny things driving through the Texas panhandle. But it was in broad daylight and it wasn't something I'd ever seen before. Doesn't mean we're being visited, but it doesn't prove we're not, no matter what that craft was. One of the most famous recent UFO sightings occurred in Phoenix, however, I can't claim to have seen that, even though I was living in Phoenix at the time. The Phoenix Lights had about 10,000 witnesses, most of whom had a similar story - On March 13, 1997, a distinct formation of amber lights slowly rolled across the Valley of the Sun. There was no motor noise, though the lights stayed in the sky for far too long to not be propelled in some way. There's video and photographic evidence of the lights, and reports that range from a couple hours north of Phoenix in Flagstaff all the way down to Mexico. What there is not is clear evidence about the actual origin of the lights. There was immediately no official conclusion about them, but several months later one of those government excuses was propped up: It was flares. Nobody who saw the lights or has even seen video of the lights believes that for a second. There's no smoke trail, and the flares would have to stay in a formation for minutes on end instead of being subject to gravity. It's not the only or the last time the lights have been seen or photographed, and one would have to assume that if the lights were flares in March 1997 that they have been flares every time. That's not too likely, but that does not necessarily confirm the the theory in The Phoenix Lights, a new documentary about the phenomenon, that it's an alien craft. In fact, one of the experts interviewed in the film invokes Occam's Razor, the principle of logic that says that to find a solution to an unknown problem, eliminate as many presumptions as possible. Then the expert says that using Occam's Razor, the simplest solution is that the Phoenix Lights represent an alien craft. Well, no, not really. That's perhaps the biggest presumption of all. And ultimately, that's the flaw with this documentary. It believes you believe and doesn't try hard enough to convince you of its hypothesis. All movies have to prove their point. And Phoenix Lights shows you the video and the pictures and has some nice historical perspective of the phenomenon, but implicitly decides that the preponderence of evidence is enough. It could be if that evidence, even in numbers that builds into the thousands, was more than anecdotal. Perhaps the film would be more impactful if there were better interview subjects. One witness works at a hotel, another is maybe seven years old. Putting them side by side with more legitimate voices, like Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell tends to dillute the message. Maybe the truth is out there, but it needs to be more compelling than this.