Crop Circles: Quest for Truth

Despite the sensational subject (and a release date coinciding with M. Night Shyamalan's Signs), gonzo Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker William Gazecki's (Waco: The Rules of Engagement) Crop Circles: Quest for Truth approaches the phenomenon in the driest and most analytical way possible. Aerial images of some genuinely spectacular crop circles (given classifications like "julius heads," "fractal stars," and "whirling spirals") are mixed with intellectual interviews with circle experts such as Colin Andrew, Michael Glickman, and Nancy Talbot. While the mathematicians point out the geometric perfection of the circles, and the biologists explain why “node bending” and “node lengthening” are proof that humans couldn't have properly bent the plant stalks, Gazecki's film mostly sits back and reports. Initially, scientists discuss crop circles as the indirect, but conceivable, products of ionospheric plasmas and aquifer variations; inevitably, however, the conversation turns to extraterrestrial intervention, and the shift from statistics to speculation will raise the hackles of most skeptics. While Crop Circles offers no spaceships, no little green men and no concrete answers, its respectful approach to the topic warrants a look by the newly curious who've just seen the blockbuster Mel Gibson vehicle. Recommended. [Note: the DVD includes an interview with the filmmaker, a crop circle photo gallery, and extra footage.] Aud: P. (D. Fienberg)