As someone who has seen a lot of UFO and alien documentaries on Netflix and Hulu, every single episode of Unsolved Mysteries (original and Netflix reboot), and even most of Ancient Aliens, the new documentary The Phenomenon (2020) is one of the most detailed, thoroughly investigated cases for the existence of extraterrestrial life that I have ever seen put to film. Showing evidence of aliens’ visits to this planet, the film mostly focuses on American interactions with these beings but also includes compelling anecdotes from around the world.

The Phenomenon is required viewing for alien enthusiasts and should be required for the nonbelievers as well, as the documentary feels like an expose of sorts, giving an up to date data dump of the U.S. government’s involvement in alien activity, research, and its subsequent cover-up. Director and long-time UFO researcher James Fox is hardly even heard from during the movie, presenting the evidence in a series of interviews, images, videos, and government press-briefings, and letting the facts do all of the talking. Fox has the expected testimony of astronomers and physicists and everyday Americans like you, but what stands out in this documentary are the explosive recountings from military personnel about how aliens have directly interfered in missile stations, and how the government seems to be sticking its head in the sand despite the potential threat.

The number of government employees, ranging from air force pilots, to governors, to even former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, is astounding, giving legitimacy to this otherwise supernatural belief of life existing elsewhere. They recount their involvement with covering up UFO sightings, beginning primarily with the infamous Roswell, New Mexico incident, and all the way up to the Pentagon’s recent acknowledgment of sightings after the 2017 release of videos showing pilots having much too close encounters with UFOs. Intermixed with these interviews and old recordings with government and military officials is also the typical mix of interviews with everyday people who have seen strange crafts, and sometimes, strange “people.”

The documentary is structured very well, with director James Fox taking us in mostly chronological order of popular sightings, beginning in the 1930s. Decade by decade, Fox introduces historical context, such as 20th-century wars seeing the increased use of nuclear bombs coinciding with an increase in military base sightings of UFOs. He briefly touches on references in deep history, such as ones found in paintings and old writings before modernity. Clocking in at an hour and 40-minute runtime, the documentary is somewhat long, and though there is a lot of information crammed into that time, the pacing never drops and my interest never waned because of all of the interviews, videos, and the riveting information being present.

Not only is the truth out there, but it has been right under our noses this whole time. As one commentator notes, there has been a focus, in recent years, on exposing the existence of alien-focused government programs, and The Phenomenon does do that, however, the main takeaway is that aliens do exist as evidenced by the very existence of these programs. As Harry Reid says, even from what we do know, “most of [the evidence] hasn’t seen the light of day,” so though The Phenomenon seems to set a new standard for what information UFO documentaries could include, there is still more yet to be discovered, and that fact is about as exciting as this documentary was.

7.5 out of 10