Real to Reel: We Are Not Alone (2023)

“We Are Not Alone” has interesting ideas, but those looking for sincere evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence should look elsewhere.

We Are Not Alone takes us on a journey of discovery, helmed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Serena Dc (she’s also the writer) to discover if the burning question of ‘Are We Alone?’ has finally been answered. Mixing interview footage and personal journals from Ufologists and Contactees, this is a documentary that seeks to reveal the truth.

Quality documentaries, especially ones on topics such as this, are few and far between.

Normally, they follow a particular pattern, often rehashing the same content without shedding anything further and generally presented by an actor who has appeared in Genre movies, presumably to lend a certain feel to it.

Starting with overlapping audio and images of the Earth, Serena DC starts the ball rolling with a preamble about how she has always been enthralled by the stars and by the cosmos — and this passion does shine through.

These initial opening moments are warm, and they show her in a good light. She doesn’t come across as a crank, just an everyday person who is desperate to find out for herself.

From here, it’s straight into the story of how this initial experience led her on a journey to reach out to subject matter experts.

We start with the Disclosure Project, a panel that allows individuals from the military and civilian areas to present their truth. It’s supported with footage released from different sources, and Serena does a great job of narrating this. She also interviews key sources such as noted Ufologist Dr. Steven Greer, who announces that we must find a way to become one with ourselves in order to reveal the ETs.

This is explored in more detail as the documentary progresses, but we seem to lose our way slightly as Serena’s personal journey starts to fill more time on screen as she meets more individuals who agree with the concept of consciousness, self, and mediation as key methods to make personal contact and to better your existence.

This was fine to watch, but not what was advertised.

The interviews in We Are Not Alone are carried out seriously, with no nods to the camera or any sly jokes made at someone’s expense.

The early discussion with Steve Greer and his experiences came across very well and set up our expectations for more personal stories. We do get that, but something feels off with the other interview subjects, who are already notorious individuals.

For example, there is Andrea Perron, whose name you’ll likely recognize as a member of the family featured in The Conjuring. We also meet Bigfoot expert Jim Myers, who believes there is a link between UFOs and the Sasquatch mythology. Oh, we also “learn” the aliens have a cloaking ability similar to what we see in The Predator.

At that point, the documentary lost me.

Perhaps realizing she was losing sight of the original question, Serena switches gears and introduces a story that precedes Roswell by two years.

Jacques Vallee and Paola Harris (Ufologist and Journalist, respectively) pick up the thread that in 1945, The US Army was testing atomic weapons in an area of New Mexico. It’s claimed that there was an alien crash that was subsequently covered up. This is given the full treatment, with CGI to dramatize as the story is told.

What is interesting here is that website addresses now appear so that you can read up further if you so wish.

The final act serves as a cautionary tale, where we are being warned about the destruction of the planet and that those who have seen the ETs have been shown that it is in our hands to correct the course. The Aliens have that power but choose not to act because it is part of our growth.

This final section is handled pretty well, using recorded footage of interviews by John Mack (Harvard) from 1994. Ariel School, Zimbabwe, was the source of a mass UFO sighting, and the footage shown is pretty effective.

However, like all the tales in this film, these claims are presented as truth without any counterpoint. 

We are simply supposed to take everything at face value and trust the claims of each talking head, even though there may be good reasons not to do that.

Regarding the Ariel school, the children were interviewed two months after the event by Mack, who allegedly questioned them using key phrases that would elicit a certain response.

All told, We Are Not Alone is filmed and presented well, and Serena makes for a compelling narrator.

However, the pitch leaves something to be desired. The Marketing of this film seems to indicate that the documentary will offer conclusive proof that we are not alone, with undeniable evidence presented. If that’s what you’re expecting, you’ll likely be disappointed.

Going into this viewing, I expected to see a great deal of evidence presented that resulted in a big payoff at the end of the film. Instead, I got some bit of evidence presented in the first five minutes, with the rest of the film focusing on Serena’s personal journey of discovery.

Most of the runtime is filled with people sharing their personal experiences and opinions.

It’s not uninteresting, but it’s far from a scientific slamdunk. 

Many interviewees offer nothing more than a tenuous link to extraterrestrials, seemingly doing little more than padding the film’s runtime.

There’s definitely an agenda here and an overarching message that Serena and her interview subjects want to drive home: that consciousness is the way forward to not only make contact but to save the planet.

In the end, what we are given is a mixed bag.

The narrative is choppy, and the film is advertised in a way that misleads viewers. There’s no genuine attempt to answer the film’s thesis question, and the evidence is slim to nonexistence. The alien premise seems like nothing more than a launch pad for talking about self-development and conscious building.

Now, is it worth watching? That likely depends on your expectations and personal perspective. If you know going in that you’ll be watching a personal journey of self-discovery and are interested in attaining a higher sense of inner self, you may connect with the material.

Likely, however, most viewers will be disappointed, especially those hoping for a thought-provoking documentary that genuinely attempts to address the potential of intelligent life in the universe beyond our planet.