Crop Circles: Quest for Truth

Complex geometric linear and circular patterns in which vegetation is squeezed flat against the ground have appeared overnight in wheat and cornfields in 70 countries worldwide over the last 25 years. These designs, generically referred to as crop circles, seem to be created out of nothing and originate from nowhere. They are exquisite works of art but who is the artist? In his documentary, Crop Circles: Quest for Truth, Oscar nominee William Gazecki (WACO, The Rules of Engagement) interviews researchers, scientists, philosophers, and laymen in an attempt to unravel the mystery of their origin and nature. Gazecki does not approach his subject from a journalistic framework, presenting pros and cons in a conventional matter, but as a filmmaker who is telling a story with astounding implications. There are no easy answers. The formations seem to reflect a Sacred Geometry incorporating the Phi or Golden ratio that exists in ancient architecture and art and throughout terrestrial biology including human body structure. As one researcher states, "there is a force or energy at work that is governed by principles that are beyond the capacity of human beings".

Crop Circles: Quest for Truth begins with archival footage of single circles from the 1980s, and then continues through the next decade, showing the deepening intricacy of the pictograms. The patterns have now evolved to the point where in August 2001 a formation appeared at Milk Hill, Wiltshire containing 409 circles making up a wheel design that is larger than two football fields. The film displays the largest collection of crop formations ever seen on screen and includes footage of strange balls of light hovering above the ground in areas where crop circles later appear. Though the documentary is a bit academic in places, tending toward the scientific and technical, the formations themselves are so breathtakingly beautiful that the film becomes an awesome experience.

Gazecki interviews scientists who look at changes in the plants or soil that are both physical and molecular, characteristics that have yet to be reproduced by man-made designs. They also discuss germination anomalies, cellular anomalies, intricate and well-structured lengthening of the nodes, exploded nodes, burn marks, and even unnatural radioactivity, all of which cannot be the result of simple mechanical flattening. The documentary considers alternative theories such as plasma vortex, the circles as three-dimensional shadows of a four-dimensional object, and electromagnetic energy from the Earth but does not spend much time with them. Also mentioned but not probed is the possibility that the patterns are man-made. It would have been interesting to hear from those who openly create circles and see how and why they do what they do. One researcher mentions that if crop circles were to be hoaxed, they would all have to be done night after night without any mistakes or partial designs and completed in five hours. This is without being discovered, leaving footprints, or being detected in any way.

Gazecki is not in doubt that some kind of conscious intelligence is at work, dancing with us, playing with us, allowing us to confront what is possible in the universe. The film, however, does not support oversimplified hypotheses like ETs or UFOs but prefers to view the phenomenon as simply an unknown. As one researcher explains, whether or not we ever succeed in unraveling the code, the very act of asking "why" allows us to expand our consciousness, and this may be the real purpose behind it. The crop circles may indeed be "mandalas of the mind", a term that Buddhists describe as "a representation of the universe, a consecrated area that serves as…a collection point of universal forces guiding man towards a state of enlightenment or awakening".

Whatever its ultimate source, the appearance of the formations has made us aware that we live in a universe that is full of mystery and wonder, that science and conventional religion may not have all the answers, and that we all have a cosmic source that is now beckoning to us. Crop Circles: Quest for Truth is not a slick entertainment package and it does not flow smoothly, but it is an intelligent and probing look at one of the most intriguing mysteries facing our planet. If you see this film and I recommend that you do, please watch it with an open mind. It may be the most important film you ever see.

Unlike most modern documentaries, Crop Circles: Quest For Truth does not attempt to provide viewers with a balanced look at both sides of a controversial issue. Instead, it focuses almost exclusively on the side you will never see in the mass media, and that is perfectly appropriate in this case. For the evidence provided is so overwhelmingly compelling that any attempt to balance it with the mass media "hoax" theory would have been an utter waste of time.

Crop Circles is everything a great documentary ought to be: it annihilates your pre-conceived notions of the subject under consideration and leaves you faced with the indisputable truth whether you like it or not. Even if no scientists or researchers had been interviewed, and if no history of crop circle appearances were presented, the sheer volume and complexity of the crop circle images themselves make it obvious to any thinking person that these are not hoaxes. Unless you assume that these images and, indeed, the film itself were a hoax, the viewer simply cannot deny that something we don't understand it as work here. This is not a fuzzy 16mm film of Bigfoot walking through the woods. What William Gazecki gives us is a comprehensive visual catalog of every type of crop circle geometry that has been found over the past 30 years. Every time you think you've seen it all, the patterns become even more intricate and beautiful. An absolutely stunning display of natural--or perhaps supernatural--phenomena.

Although some researchers offer their opinions as to the origin of crop circles, none seem particularly dogmatic, and all seem open to new ideas. I was actually quite surprised by the credibility and sensibility of these researchers. The mass media would have you believe these people are kooks, like the UFO landing site researcher in Waiting For Guffman. Yet another reason to avoid the mass media when you're interested in truth.

The DVD special features add even more to the intrigue with film footage of military helicopters harassing researchers. Why would the government want to stop people from researching a hoax?

As a film, Crop Circles: Quest For Truth has several flaws, from interviews filled with distractions to lengthy scene transitions that repeatedly make you wonder whether your DVD player has frozen. Most frustrating of all, the sound level is very low, and I had to connect a different amplifier to get a comfortable volume. But the content here is so extraordinary that none of this matters. Gazecki's film is a masterpiece because it completely unravels in less than two hours a "hoax" theory that has taken the mass media/government/skeptics years to foist upon the masses.

Watch it and be changed.

Was hesitant to see this film. It got a "C" rating in the local paper. Was very glad I went. The professional review I read was by a person that I think was ASSIGNED to review it. Obviously, he had no enthusiasm for the film.

I think this type of review is very unfair to the general public.

This was a documentary. I thought it was very well done. The director interviewed on camera, a wide variety of experts in this field. It became rapidly obvious, that these people were very serious & most of them added a lot to the documentary. A good deal of them had impressive credentials.

The documentary covered almost 20 years of crop circles. This amounts to maybe thousands of circles.

For me, the story just kept on getting more & more interesting. Quite a few times, I uttered amazement out loud. I couldn't help myself.

The director's film convinced me, that most (if not all) circles are NOT man-made. The circles he displayed became more & more intricate with each passing year. The circle near the end of the film should convince most that at least this particular one was not man-made.

While his film didn't interview any human crop circle makers, he did show why most COULDN'T be man-made.

The documentary is an elastic category that doesn't know itself. Like the crop circles that are the subject of this one, they in more or less intriguing and attractive manner, secure that our need for a "message" will impose a narrative.

Nominally, documentarians are journalists, the vanguard of history. Often that means that this viewer imposes an alternative narrative, because the one presented by the filmmaker fails. I recently saw an award-winning film on the financial meltdown and I was channeled into a revery about the attractiveness of fundamentalist religion and politics.

Now here we have that very story: some extreme supernatural intelligence is giving us a message. And you know what, I liked it because it was so transparent. Especially toward the end, it resembled the Hale-Bopp videos of the soon-to-commit-suicide members of Heaven's Gate. It may be that this filmmaker decided to make a film about delusion. After all, the crop circles follow exclusively human trends and fashionable design trends. Many of their makers have come forward, and signs of their construction are obvious. Some of the more prominent former believers have admitted defeat, so this decision must have been conscious.

Then the whole film merged with another award winning documentary, another goof. This one ("Exit through the Gift Shop") was also a hoax perpetrated with the assistance of an on screen character. It was an exploration of the power of anonymous art, deliberately puzzling and confrontationally and surreptitiously put in the public eye.

Narrative has power. It moves from film to film, being to being, truth to desire overwhelming whatever constraints are placed in its way.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

If you liked Spinal Tap you'll love this, very similar in style. It plays like a documentary, presenting the most ludicrous opinions and over the top exaggerations of academics, yet plays it serious and with a straight face the whole time.

One of my favorite bits is when describing how folks in the "olden days" would have attributed these to the devil or supernatural evil out of ignorance, people today do the same by assuming it is... wait for it... a hoax! Brilliant timing in the delivery.

Some of the dialog is a little over the top and drags out a but, but still funny.

The caricatures are brilliant, they hit all the classics. The smoking, gravely voice lady spouting pretend science about unrelated minutia with her boxes of "evidence". The British 'philosopher' who continually spouts 'deep' thoughts in what he clearly thinks profound, (kind of plays it like a Hugh Laurie creation from A Bit of Fry & Laurie), but utter nonsense. The 'Glickman' character at the beginning and end who is a classic stereotypical paranoid/ delusional who at home pushing a shopping cart around a downtown area asking for change and complaining about the transmitters in his teeth. (his bit at the start about being affronted by thing represented by initials). And last but not least the computer geek, with his talk about 5 dimensional space and silly animations. All the talk about the "advanced math" is just great. All these apparently educated, academic types who are just amazed and astounded by grade school geometry. Almost a Monty Python feel at that point.

And ironic fun with title is brilliant as well, "quest for the truth". I don't think once they ever mention or bring up or dismiss the simple truth, but instead have 5 dimension crafts flying through the earth and every other crazy other explanation they can dream up.

It also reminds be a bit of Comic Book : The Movie. In the sense that while they are completely mocking the crop circle nuts, they never really get mean about it. It is funny and light hearted.

Definitely a fun watch. My only minor complaint is that is a little long in parts.