Behind the Curve

Flat Earthers are probably wetting themselves at having gained mainstream exposure from such a massive source as Netflix. Sadly (for them) they are exposed as "nice, real people, who are too stupid to understand basic science. But not bad at making wooden electric motorbikes". (Yes, you read that correctly)

Through the subject of "flat earthers" this documentary illustrates how otherwise normal people get caught up in nonsense and continue to delude themselves.

I thought this documentary would be about the flat earth theory, and what they believe, and why they believe it. And it was that a little bit. But not much. So I was a bit disappointed at first.

But the documentary turned out to be about the flat-earthers themselves, and what makes them believe it; or what makes them not not-believe it. And that was fascinating.

In addition to showing a very-respectful portrait of flat-earthers, it also interjected commentary from physicists and psychologists, who offered their take on the phenomenon (which is actually quite large).

One of the important points that the physicists in the documentary made was that, it's easy to just dismiss the flat earth movement as silly nonsense. The problem is, though, that once people start adjusting their reality to fit a nonsensical theory, then it affects other parts of their reality, as well, and also affects the people around them whom they affect with the theory.

And so you have things like the anti-vaxxer movement, pizzagate, the deep-state theory, and many other things. It's all similar.

So this is a facinating study, not just on the flat-earth movement, but on fringe movements in general, and how they affect us all. And the more the anti-science fringe theories spread, the more they affect us, especially when people who believe them go into government, etc.

There are also a lot of other good points the documentary makes, especially from some of the psychologists they interviewed.

Definitely recommended.

Oh, and about some of the reviews here on IMDB, it's kind of funny that, while most people gave the documentary positive reviews, there were a lot of 1-star reviews. Some of the 1-star reviews were like, "They didn't provide any evidence for or against the flat-earth theory" -- missing the point that that's not what the documentary was about.

But the funniest ones were the ones who claimed that the filmmakers were "really stupid," because they set out to prove the flat earth theory, but only showed how wrong it was.

I guess there's a bit of irony there in the wrong-headed analysis about a documentary about wrong-headed analysis of science. :-)

I feel like a lot of the reviews here are coming from the viewpoint that this is a documentary about why the earth is flat. The reality is that this is a documentary about the people who hold and share this belief.

It doesn't explicitly, in-your-face tell you that these people are misguided. Through its editing of following the flat earth believers and cutting to real knowledge from both scientists & psychologists it helps to build a better understanding of why these people are the way that they are.

I would say this is half a documentary about the flat earthers themselves, and the other half is about building an understanding of why people in general can manage to hold any such belief about conspiracies. It explains how their minds work and why it works that way, while following a real group who operates within those parameters to illustrate it.

I have mixed feelings about his documentary. On the one hand, it is pretty clear that these folks are being presented as what they are - well meaning but maladjusted individuals who have bought into a down the rabbit hole idea with zero scientific support.

OTOH, it is also unfortunate to give exposure to such utterly bogus ideas. That is probably a disservice to the the rest of humanity.

As for me, I have been an amateur astronomer for over 30 years and can think of at least a half dozen simple tests that prove that the earth is indeed very round. Of course, presenting these to flat earthers would be a wast of time - if they cared about evidence, they would not be what they are.

In the end, the whole idea that such folks with such ideas even exist just made me sad.