Missing 411

These films are at the out set quite intriguing simply by the seemingly very large numbers of persons disappeared in wilderness areas. However the cherry picking of cases and often just not stating the most probable causes of disappearances panders to uncritical minds. For example the man who was said to shed his pants folded as if he melted. But, that disregards hypothermal and dehydration do cause people to become delirious and shed clothing in frigid conditions. Numerous cases from Artic deaths show this. There also was a man who as a child managed to walk 20 plus miles and was lucky to find help. He said he experienced nothing supernatural. So we know small children can do things we might not expect. That would include walking away from adults. But frankly these cases do not explore the mundane or criminal sides of the vanishings. But, its worth while to speculate, but I am sure by now this has made its promoters very wealthy.

I have followed David Paulides for a few years now and although this film was not what I expected I still have to applaud the excellent cinematography and work which has went into this production. Yes the main thread may provoke controversy but after watching the film again I have a different view on this. I felt that the Deorr case, for me anyway, demonstrated the difference between a 411 case and a homicide case. This may well not have been the intention but it was what I took from the film. This film is extremely important in that people MUST be made aware of what is going on out there, not just in America, but all over the world. Some people only care about themselves and that is their prerogative, however if you care about others and want to know what is happening then this work has to be supported. The film is a welcome break from all the usual CGI rubbish and I for one will watch it again and urge others to find out more about this subject.

So, from the moment I found out about the work David Paulides was doing with his books in "The Missing 411" series, my eyes were opened to an extremely bizarre and troubling phenomenon. People have been going missing in clusters around the country with mysterious circumstances and a large percentage are in national parks, and the parks system doesn't keep (or at least release) database information about these people??? This is what I believe is the true focus of this film and all of the books... to warn people of the potential danger that clearly exists but is being downplayed. We're not imagining these people missing... the information Paulides presents in the books and movies is from actual newspaper articles, police reports and witness testimony. so to give this film a bad rating because of completely unrelated situations, opinions, and unsubstantiated claims is to completely miss the point and do a disservice to the true purpose of the movie and books. Sure, we all were hoping for a ton of the thought provoking case profiles in the books to be presented, but that just logically could not happen in a 1.5 to 2 hour long film. If we really care about the people who have gone missing and their families and anyone who will potentially go missing in the future, we need to get over ourselves and help promote this movie so attention will be drawn where attention is severely needed. My heart goes out to the families that have suffered through the unthinkable, and I hope this movie and the other work Paulides is doing will honor them by bringing that much needed attention. I too selfishly wanted more, but maybe positively promoting this film will get me more sequels to satisfy my selfishness (and subsequently bring even more attention to the lost!)

God bless.

1. Yes, I DO recommend people see this documentary! 2. It deserves high marks for attempting what no others ever have before. 3. The camera work is truly stellar. 4. I'm going to be painfully honest about why it really missed it's mark.

In all fairness, it does great justice to the Deorr Kunz case, and it's a good vehicle to fully feel and understand the powerful sense of loss that Jaryd Atadero has had to cope with all these years. What might be the issue here for a lot of people(Me included) is that it tries too hard to emphasize those 2 cases ALONE(especially Deorr's) at the expense of other, extremely important cases that are not only similar, but also as poignant. I believe I understand the 'style' of documentary that Michael and Ben were trying to put together here, but it simply falls a bit flat throughout, and tends to also ramble in places where it should be moving on to other cases rather than backtracking with the same depth and heartfelt emotion. I also do NOT think adding voice-overs from C2C shows brought anything worthwhile of relevance to this project. Going back over and over and returning to a subject that has seemingly been covered already is also distracting and often frustrating to watch. Personally, I believe documentaries that do that tend to lose people's interest quickly because it takes you back rather than moving you progressively forward.

Nonetheless, it's important enough that people should take the time to see it. And I DO hope the next one, assuming there will be one, will hit people in the gut like Paulides' interviews often do. Bullet-point facts back-to-back, less mellow-drama and over-emphasis than we saw here,and a lot more emphasis on the MYSTERY, the boulder fields, the extreme similarities of cases, the possible paranormal aspects(as in the kid who refused to poop for his robot grandma), the international cases, and Mr. David Paulides himself in front of the camera speaking to us directly occasionally.

That would REALLY do it for me...

To date I've listened to all the Coast to Coast radio interviews and as many other interviews with David Paulides as possible. I wanted to see the doc so badly after hearing him answer questions, appear on Youtube, but I was somewhat disappointed.

This book series lends itself more to a whole Missing 411 series on Netflix or Hulu rather than a single doc. There are so many interesting cases, and David has a knack of walking you through the facts without inserting interpretation.

One of the lasting outcomes of his work will be a national database and the accountability of the National Park Service, an organization I fully admire. This doc does not reveal the level of obfuscation that they have put forth, leading to wild speculation.

The mystery of missing people alone is worth watching this but it doesn't do the book series justice. Perhaps no single doc could. So, maybe we'll see a series in the future.