Behind the Curve

Flat Earthers are probably wetting themselves at having gained mainstream exposure from such a massive source as Netflix. Sadly (for them) they are exposed as "nice, real people, who are too stupid to understand basic science. But not bad at making wooden electric motorbikes". (Yes, you read that correctly)

I have mixed feelings about his documentary. On the one hand, it is pretty clear that these folks are being presented as what they are - well meaning but maladjusted individuals who have bought into a down the rabbit hole idea with zero scientific support.

OTOH, it is also unfortunate to give exposure to such utterly bogus ideas. That is probably a disservice to the the rest of humanity.

As for me, I have been an amateur astronomer for over 30 years and can think of at least a half dozen simple tests that prove that the earth is indeed very round. Of course, presenting these to flat earthers would be a wast of time - if they cared about evidence, they would not be what they are.

In the end, the whole idea that such folks with such ideas even exist just made me sad.

It's a really good documentary about the insanity or in my view the self loving promotion of the main characters who seem to only jump onboard this "flat earth" belief because they couldn't find another way to promote how important they want to believe they are and it's shameful that these so-called leaders of this cultish flat earth movement use this platform to make themselves feel relevant which leads people who are looking for acceptance to latch on to something that they can relate to and feel included.. At one point in the documentary a guy has someone purchase a $20,000.00 laser gyroscope so he can prove the earth is flat which totally backfires when the test that he runs proves that the earth has the exact curvature it should have if the earth is indeed round and once he sees the results he wasn't expecting he refuses to share his results with his fellow flat earthers at this conference that was put together but if that's not enough another guy runs a test trying to use lasers but it fails because the laser wouldn't shoot narrow enough to record the measurement needed but he tries again and uses a light and that experiment blows up in his face when the curvature of the earth doesn't allow him to see the light needed to prove the earth is flat.. So I guess it's back to the drawing board to find some other way to debunk the FACT that the earth is a huge ball... Also these flat earthers believe NASA has been lying this whole time and that we've never been to the moon nor have we ever put anyone into space and that other private space exploration companies are actually government backed to help sell the lie.. My neck hurts from shaking my head so much at the idiocies that these poor souls wanna believe in.. All I can say is stop it your embarrassing your mother!!

I feel like a lot of the reviews here are coming from the viewpoint that this is a documentary about why the earth is flat. The reality is that this is a documentary about the people who hold and share this belief.

It doesn't explicitly, in-your-face tell you that these people are misguided. Through its editing of following the flat earth believers and cutting to real knowledge from both scientists & psychologists it helps to build a better understanding of why these people are the way that they are.

I would say this is half a documentary about the flat earthers themselves, and the other half is about building an understanding of why people in general can manage to hold any such belief about conspiracies. It explains how their minds work and why it works that way, while following a real group who operates within those parameters to illustrate it.

No it's not... LMAO. I thought it was documentary but after half an hour I realised that this is actually comedy!