Years ago, when I was active with the Boy Scouts of America, I had the pleasure of knowing a man named Gordy. This guy had a heart of gold, as do many men his age who devote themselves to the BSA, and I always counted myself lucky when our paths crossed once or twice a year at camp.
But there was something different about Gordy, something that added to his appeal—it was the stories he told. Honestly, I didn’t know that much about him, other than the fact that he worked the night shift at a nearby factory and was working on a book about the local post office, of all things. The only other thing I knew about Gordy was that he was deeply, deeply into all things paranormal. I really do mean all things paranormal, from ghosts to demons to aliens to cryptozoology, you name it and Gordy was into it. And not just the paranormal—he was also an avid conspiracy theorist, but not in the Trumpian sense of the term (although he did believe he stumbled upon a secret prison hidden in the local woods). You’re probably imagining somebody insane, but Gordy wasn’t crazy, at least not in the sense you might be imagining. He lived a fairly normal life, volunteered extensively in the community, devoted much of his life to kids, and in his spare time just happened to chase ghosts and UFOs. And he wouldn’t talk about any of these things unless he was prodded to do so, which of course we did, because his stories were incredibly entertaining if nothing else. It was evident to anybody on the receiving end of his tales that he genuinely believed everything he said, and he delivered what he believed to be “the truth” with contagious enthusiasm.
And I’ll admit, sometimes Gordy got me wondering, even spooked at times. He had just enough “evidence” to back up his stories to make you wonder what was real and what wasn’t. He kept a Polaroid camera with him when he went on his paranormal expeditions, and he had a thick file of photographs, many of which actually did evade explanation (I would go into more detail, but you might start thinking that I’m crazy). It was “evidence” like that that occasionally made me wonder if Gordy’s quest for “the truth” wasn’t on to something. And deep down, I wanted to believe.
All of this was a very longwinded way of saying that I watched a fantastic film this week, one that reminded me of Gordy. I don’t often review films in my capacity here at KTK, but I think Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs may be of interest to some. Despite the title, it’s not really about UFOs—it is more about the man who sees them, Christo Roppolo.
Okay, so it is sort of about UFOs. Roppolo has been documenting UFOs for years near his home in Monterey, California. Just like Gordy, Roppolo has mountains of evidence—in the form of video recordings of UFO activity. There is nothing groundbreaking that will sway somebody who doesn’t believe in alien spacecraft, but there is enough weird shit in the footage to make you shrug and...well...wonder. But it’s about much more than that. From the film synopsis:
Christo Roppolo claims to have been videotaping and communicating with UFOs around Monterey, CA for several years. He contacted filmmaker, Justin Gaar, in 2013 to begin creating a film about his sightings. Skeptical of the footage but intrigued by Christo's eccentricities and wild stories, Justin begins spending time with Christo hunting UFOs along California's beautiful central coast. When a crop circle appears in Monterey County and becomes international news, Christo is validated in his belief of alien contact and Justin, shocked, begins investigating the source of the crop circle and how Christo knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's being contacted by his 'brother's from space'. The two travel up and down the central coast and through the central valley hunting for UFO activity. Christo is like a traveling UFO preacher, explaining the sightings to passersby, asking about their own experiences with the unknown, spreading his gospel of extraterrestrial salvation. In their journey together Justin finds that sometimes aliens from space can tell us more about our own humanity than the people on Earth.
And just like Gordy, Roppolo enthusiastically delivers “the truth” to anybody who will listen, telling wild tales (many of which have at least some basis in reality) about UFO sightings, men mysteriously burning to death, crop circles, and his communication with alien spacecraft (he believes he can signal UFOs with a mirror, and he claimed at one point that a UFO made him shit his pants). Those who will want to claim that Roppolo is crazy will have plenty of material to work with, and filmmaker Justin Gaar understandably almost wrote this project off when Roppolo approached him. From a Motherboard review of the film:
"I honestly watched maybe an hour's worth [of Roppolo's footage] and was like what is this?" Garr told Motherboard. "It's really just hours and hours of him going 'what the fuck is that fucking shit?' and pointing at blinking dots in the sky. My mind wasn't entirely open to what it was."
Gaar begins (and ends) this project with a heavy dose of skepticism, but there are points throughout the film when Gaar himself begins questioning reality. The UFO sightings are not simply in Roppolo’s head—Gaar sees the weird lights, too, and one sighting in particular over Monterey Bay really left him wondering what was real and what wasn’t.
Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs could have been a distasteful film about a crazy guy in Monterey who thinks he communicates with UFOs. But it’s actually more about human tragedy than alien conspiracy. What began as a film about UFO footage morphed into a poignant film about Roppolo the man and the personal trauma that shaped a once aspiring filmmaker into an avid UFO chaser. Motherboard sums it up:
Roppolo's troubled past really began when his dad was killed in a drunk driving accident while Roppolo was working his way through culinary school. His father was the only person Roppolo ever felt close to in his family and was the person who had originally sparked his passion for filmmaking when he took Roppolo to see the Godfather in theatres.
After the accident, Roppolo and his brother came into a significant sum of money as a result of the settlement. His brother squandered it on land in the American south and soon went bankrupt. Roppolo spent a portion of his money on filmmaking equipment and with $10,000 produced his first major film, a remake of the classic 1964 gore film, The Flesh Eaters.
The film was decently well received, but shortly after its release Roppolo learned that his brother had stolen $129,000 from his bank account and disappeared. Amazingly, this would soon turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg on Roppolo's downward slide.
That is really only just the beginning. Shortly after this turn of events, Roppolo’s lover was diagnosed with cancer and died, something he blames on his brother’s theft and his resulting inability to pay for medical care. His mother also estranged him, and toward the end of the film, Roppolo reads a handwritten letter from his mom telling him that he is no longer her son. These glimpses into unfathomable loss are interwoven with Roppolo’s UFO sightings, which (although he claims to have seen UFOs since childhood) really seem to pick up after this downward personal spiral. One memorable line from the film is when Roppolo tells the camera that his dogs and the UFOs he sees are his only real family.
There is a temptation to say that all of this is psychological, a way one man found to grieve and make sense of the world...but then there is the footage. Gaar tells Motherboard:
Whenever [Roppolo] was having emotional trauma in his life, it was always reflected in his ability to find the UFOs. I sort of hypothesized that maybe some of this is psychological, but then also I don't know what the fuck that stuff is that he's videotaping. Some of it you can immediately write off and some of it is really hard to reason through.
If you watch the film, you won’t see a crazy guy in Monterey—you’ll see a genuine person with a good heart and a passion for finding “the truth.” Maybe the UFO chasing is his way of dealing with the shitty hand that life dealt him, but maybe something truly weird is going on in Monterey. Maybe a little of both. You might not believe in UFOs, but Christo Roppolo will make you want to believe.
What do you want to kibitz about tonight?