The Visit: An Alien Encounter [DVD]

It is an attempt to explain what the human race could/would respond to an extra-terrestrial life form suddenly arrived on Earth. So there is science, politics, religion, ethics, communication to be thought about. Will it be an invasion? Will it be benevolent? Will we be slaves, teachers or pupils? I liked the filmed sequences that link the interviews, nothing flashy, just slow motion scenes from the streets and cities from around Europe(?).Notably, this is written/directed by Michael Madsen, a Danish writer/director/film-maker and not the guy from the Tarantino films (Reservoir Dogs, etc), as Amazon will have you think if you click on the director's name.

My goodness this is boring. I doubt that the people assessing a situation like this would do anything but panic and phone everyone they knew. If things are left to people we might as well shoot ourselves. Humans in general would shoot first then check afterwards it's intention. They listed the important countries that should make the decisions in the Un. which leaves out all the other countries whether they are members of the UN or not. We are such an arrogant race. Should another species come to this planet, it doesn't matter if Joe Blogs down the street attacks it. It will attack back and then all hell will break loose. The general public can't be trusted to do the right thing. Now I think no one can be trusted. They should stay away from us as we are a violent and self oriented race. race

This is a really clever concept. Aliens arrive and they're saying nothing. The longer it goes on, the more the experts interviewed reveal about human nature. Nobody wants the aliens to learn about the darker aspects of our past -- slavery, genocide, torture, totalitarianism. And so gradually we come to see ourselves as others might see us. It's like being Fred West when the police come round, praying they won't go and look at the patio. So we come away knowing nothing more about what's out there, of course, but hopefully with a better idea of how we need to change if we're ever to earn a place in any galactic federation.

The concept sounds great - if aliens made contact, what would the people who run our planet actually do? This doc calls itself a "simulation" of these possible events but I think simulation is a bit of a stretch. It's essentially a lot of (self) important people talking about what we might do.It takes a scientific, academic and political approach taking in comments and speculation from the United Nations, doctors, psychologists, scientists, space agencies and lawyers (I'd send them in first). Alongside the talking head stuff there are interesting visuals of planet Earth (no aliens to be seen here) but it's hard to escape the fact that this is 80 minutes of dry pontification which doesn't necessarily lead anywhere.Other than the occasional interesting moment, could/would an alien encounter actually prove to be this dull? Maybe it would. Shame.

This was both thought provoking and hilarious in equal measure. The pompous and ignorant contributors certainly added to the hilarity. What was thought provoking was the realisation that it really will be politicians and bureaucrats who will believe they are in control of first contact - we are doomed.

Beautiful, inspiring and thoughtful. People really have thought hard about how we should respond to alien contact. This is not a narrative but poetic speculative science.

"The only people who should speak for the whole world is the UN" - In your dreams buddy. This whole film is just a propaganda piece for the UN. Somehow they've even got their own department for outer-space matters. This is just empire-building. Another attempt to form a one-world government, which is the last thing we need!It concerns me somewhat that these egg-heads might actually be in charge if an ET were to land and make contact. Most of them seem pretty wet and boring.I watched about half and hour of this film. If I was the alien, I would ask to go to the bathroom and climb out the window, run back into my ship and take off. Then I would write in my Encyclopedia Galactica: "Terribly boring place, stay away - they'll ask you loads of really silly questions like 'how do you think'"

Smart, elegant, philosophical and insightful.. A must see.. This was a simulation/experimentation of what might be asked and discussed upon the visitation of an extra terrestrial life force.. -But in my opinion they're already here.