This 2020 documentary looks at strange craft in the sky that people have reported for about 70 years. It mixes old news clips, new talks with pilots, officials, and witnesses, and recent U.S. government video of unknown objects. The big question is whether these things are real and whether leaders have kept the full story secret. The tone is serious and a bit tense, more like a news special than a sci-fi movie.
The film is almost all about UFO history, witness stories, nuclear-base sightings, and calls for more open study. Viewers mainly hear military and political figures talk about cover-ups and hard-to-explain craft. One famous school case includes kids saying the visitors wanted people to care for the planet; that green note is brief and tied to that single event, not a full climate lecture. Everyday viewers will notice mystery, secrecy, and “are we alone?” questions far more than modern identity politics or social-justice themes.
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Was our 8% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Phenomenon.
Woke representation / casting
Real officials, pilots, scientists, and case witnesses appear as themselves. Zimbabwe and Australian school kids are in the film because they were witnesses to famous sightings, not as cast “diversity picks.” No quota-style identity casting is the point of the movie.
0%
Woke political dialogue
Talk centers on unknown craft, nuclear-site visits, stigma, and government secrecy. There is almost no identity, DEI, race, gender, or queer activist speech. Any mild green wording is short and case-linked, not a long political lecture.
5%
Identity-driven story themes
The spine of the story is “are these objects real and has the state hidden them?” Not race, gender, or queer identity arcs. A brief environment-care message in the Ariel School segment is a light green note some viewers will notice, not a full identity-politics storyline.
8%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film challenges secrecy and stigma around UFOs. That is classic cover-up reporting, not modern activist attacks on patriarchy, whiteness, colonial guilt, or traditional family/faith as the core frame. Score stays low under the anti-tyranny / secrecy exception.
5%
Woke character or canon changes
Not present in this title.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No solid record of right-leaning or anti-woke campaigns treating this title as woke, DEI, or identity propaganda. Debate stayed on UFO truth claims.
0%
Creator track record context
Key director James Fox is scored as non-woke UFO journalism. Writer Marc Barasch brings mild environmental activism. Producer Dan Farah has some progressive credits but is not defined by identity-first work here. Overall crew context is low and subject-driven.
10%
Production
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