Mark Pilkington’s 2010 book MIRAGE MEN has been lauded as one of the more credible takes on the topic of unidentified flying objects, and tonight’s documentary of the same name expands on exactly that.
Conversation about UFOs has been around as long as most of us can remember, peaking alongside interest in the space race and questions about whether there was really life beyond our own planet. Classic films like Invasion of The Body Snatchers and It Came From Outer Spaceexploited the average Joe’s fear of the unknown from the 1950’s onwards, then the likes of ET came along in the early 1980’s to spread the word to the kids that the stranger from another world might just be what we need to save us.
Mark Pilkington’s 2010 book MIRAGE MEN has been lauded as one of the more credible takes on the topic of unidentified flying objects, and tonight’s documentary of the same name expands on exactly that.
Conversation about UFOs has been around as long as most of us can remember, peaking alongside interest in the space race and questions about whether there was really life beyond our own planet. Classic films like Invasion of The Body Snatchers and It Came From Outer Space exploited the average Joe’s fear of the unknown from the 1950’s onwards, then the likes of ET came along in the early 1980’s to spread the word to the kids that the stranger from another world might just be what we need to save us.
Some of us take the possibility of extra terrestrial life very seriously, and it is these folk – alongside the US government – who have been most derogatory about MIRAGE MEN as a whole. Pilkington argues that many of the stories we’ve heard about alien visitors and flying saucers are part of a deliberate campaign of disinformation created by intelligence agencies to cover up secret military technology and clandestine operations. These “mirage men” – who were highly active during the Cold War - have manipulated some UFO believers to the point of madness and beyond through the use of fabricated “evidence” and psychological warfare techniques, all in the name of US national security.
Pilkington, along with directors John Lundberg, Roland Denning and Kypros Kyprianou has attempted to further explain the work of the above in the film, which features interviews with some of the aforementioned mirage men themselves - as well as their victims.
UFO mythology has captivated generations and shows no sign of loosening its grip on the popular imagination, despite this film telling the tale of the manufacturing the myth of the UFO as a powerful weapon of mass destruction, creating the perfect cover for all manner of clandestine technologies and operations. MIRAGE MEN draws viewers into a saucer shaped hall of mirrors, a shadow world where every lie contains elements of the truth – a truth that is far stranger than the UFO believers - or their detractors - would have you believe.
As I mentioned before, some people have been upset by the film, but the UFO community – who can be termed a little wacky at the best of times – are treated with understanding and respect by the filmmakers rather than nutjobs. Pilkington and his mates won’t stop them gazing at the stars and hoping for more, just as the religious do the same to their chosen god.
Perhaps we’re no closer to knowing if the truth really is out there, but we can be sure from watching this film that the lies are. And as Pilkington himself says, “might UFO phenomena represent an intelligence of another kind, something strange and more subtle? Certainly, but that’s another story…”