Children
Of The Stars (2012/Billingsgate Media/MVD DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Main Program: C
Bill
Perine's Children of the Stars (2012) is a crackpot
documentary (if you can call it that) that is entertaining to a point
and sad in another. Following the exploits of a cult-ish U.F.O.
Contactee group who relive and recall their past lives on other
planets by making their own low budget Sci-Fi films where they
overcome the fear these lives have brought upon them. (One man blew
up an entire planet with his Space Ship, Ender's Game style and has
been haunted ever since.)
Being
a believer in U.F.O.s, the extraterrestrials and haven't seen many
docs on the subject, I found this one in particular to be pretty one
sided. There are next to no opposing comments to fight these
theories and most of the ones featured are so outlandish and
ridiculous you have to wonder what drugs these people were smoking
when they came up with some of this stuff.
In
1973, Ruth Norman, a 73 year old widow (whose Husband resembled Jesus
and other important figures in mythology) and self described cosmic
visionary purchased 67 acres of land in the mountains east of San
Diego, California as a landing site for the Space Brothers,
emissaries from the Intergalactic Confederation. Nearly 40 years
later, a group of dedicated followers still await their arrival.
At
the Unarius Academy of Science death does not exist, Nicola Tesla was
a Space Brother, Satan drove a Cadillac and science fiction is real.
To relive their pasts, the students film their own sci-fi
extravaganzas with the increasingly extravagant Ruth Norman as the
star and the lines between fantasy and reality dissolve.
The
clips from the films that are shown in the documentary are the
highlight of the piece, with many of the sets, production design, and
acting so poorly done, it's hard to look away. The energy of the doc
also seems to taper away starting around the mid-section, as what
happens with most indie documentaries and we are left scratching our
heads at the end, wondering what the heck we just watched.
The
standard definition transfer is so-so throughout with a 1.85:1
widescreen aspect ratio, with many shots and archival footage grainy
and compressed. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is fine for
this release but average compared to the more clear and powerful
audio tracks we are spoiled by on Blu-ray discs.
25
minutes of archival footage supports the feature length documentary
on the disc.
If
you're looking for a documentary about aliens and the supernatural,
this isn't exactly the one you are looking for. It's more a look at
an outlandish cult of people who believe they are space beings.
Luckily, they aren't malicious people, but more or less just
downright bizarre.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
