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There is one lesser known tale about the infamous alledged UFO crash at
Roswell back in 1947, that of Major Jesse Marcel sr, who later would
become a key figure in the cover-up of what had actually happened in
Roswell - that he took some of the supposed UFO-material home the day he
first investigated the crash site and only later handed it over to the
army out of a sense of patriotism, which is also why he helped cover up
whatever-it-was. However, before handing the material over to the proper
authorities, he showed it to his wife and son, and it would leave a
lasting impression on them. Today, Jessy Marcel sr and his son Jesse jr
are gone, but documentary filmmaker Philip Coppens has tracked down Jesse
Marcel III, the senior's grandson, who was born decades after the Roswell
incident, but who was brought up in the belief that UFOs existed and both
senior and junior had seen actual UFO-material. Of course, all the
material that could confound his "knowledge" has long
disappeared to wherever, but really one can't blame Jesse Marcel III for
believing the stories of his dad and granddad ... ... and in
this respect, this documentary makes its one fatal mistake: It claims to
prove that it was actually a UFO that crashed near Roswell in 1947, but
all it offers as absolute evidence is what Jesse Marcel III knows from
hearsay. Now I'm not even claiming that his father and grandfather
"lied" to him, it is at least likely that Jesse Marcel sr found
some unusual material at the crash-site - the question is, did he have the
authority to determine it was alien? And you know what? While this
question is never explicitely asked in the film, it's strongly suggested
he did in fact NOT have that authority. All the film suggests is that he
gathered some stuff from the site he couldn't classify and ... well,
jumped to a conclusion - and filmmaker Philip Coppens is more than willing
to make the jump with him without making an effort to look for alternative
answers. Now don't get me wrong, while I don't believe it was a UFO that
crashed near Roswell, I cannot exclude it with 100% certainty, and I do
believe there has been a massive (and quite botched up) cover-up
concerning all things Roswell 1947 (but I'm not even certain about that,
all the [actual] weather baloons I've seen do in fact look a bit UFO-like
to the untrained eye) - but just because a cover-up has been taking place
doesn't mean that UFOs had to be involved. Matter of fact, a cover-up of
things way more military seems much more likely with the army just jumping
the UFO-bandwagon to divert the fiercest conspiracy theorists (psychology
101 I'd call it). But I'm digressing, let's get back to the film at
hand: Now I don't blame Jesse Marcel III for a moment for believing what
he believes, he was brought up with it, and from his point of view, what
he tells is the absolute truth ... but filmmaker Philip Coppens utterly
lacks in diligence to make his documentary unbiased, in fact he kind of
seems like the guy who WANTS to believe, and thus turns a blind eye on
alternative explanations. All of this said, this film's still a
valuable addition to the collections of conspiracy theorists, UFOlogists
and Roswell 1947 afficionados all over, as it does indeed tell a lesser
covered Roswell-story and is quite beautifully made at that, but if you're
looking for an unbiased documentary about Roswell, you might just want to
stay away from this ...
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