Customer Reviews

In Search of the Mole People [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have heard about this movie (I live in the Netherlands) and it was not available anywhere in Europe. I did not want to wait untill it will be screened on dutch television, so I bought it. I am happy to, it fits my collection of top documentaries. The suspense of the documentary and the amazing story got me a bit in doubt if it is a true documentary or a fictional one. It does not matter. It is even more realistic then the Blair Witch project, with the big difference that this could be and is probably an actual documentary. Anyway, I heard rumours in Amsterdam about the Mole People film and how hard it is to get it. Now i am part of the Mole People society?

As soon as you hit the play button on your VCR, you drown in the sea of the emotions of people living under the streets of New York City. The scary but at the same time wondering feeling lasts long after you are done watching the movie. This documentary film leaves you with a deep feeling of curiosity and fear about those who are living a life underground. This movie will definitely not leave you indifferent. I highly recommend it.

This movie can be compared to Alien Autopsy to a degree.
You actually come to terms with the fact that there is another
civilization out there, unlike that which you know...

...only difference, of course, is that Alien Autopsy was fake.
The Mole People are real. Now, everyday when I wake up, I think
that we're not alone. There is another civilization where there
is no day or night. There is no time.

Very interesting. I knew that people lived in the tunnels but to actually see how they live was another thing. The fact that you can really see almost a brief day in the life of a person living underground is something very different. Really good movie, a must have for those who collect documentaries.

This movie totally freaked me out!! I can't believe that there are people living beneath the city and for so many years! Who knew? I enjoyed watching this film and learning about how these people can survive on next to nothing. I was amazed at how those involved in making the film endured actually being in these tunnels to conduct the interviews and shoot the footage. You have to see this film to believe it!!

In Search of the Mole People (Viktor David, 2000)

The opening titles of In Search of the Mole People, Viktor David's illuminating, unsettling documentary on the homeless who live in New York's subway system, briefly sketch out the story of Jennifer Toth, whose book The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City inspired the filmmakers and, according to the film, forced Toth to flee New York after she received death threats for exposing this secret world to the normals who live above-ground. That may seem confusing at first, especially as Toth, who gets a decent amount of screen time here, never really refers to it herself. If you're paying attention, though, in one of the interviews the filmmakers conduct, one of the mole people makes a passing reference to why: "there were a lot more of us [before the book was written]." Can one sociological study destroy an entire way of life?

David and his crew don't answer that question (though it would certainly warrant a follow-up film in, say, 2010), but there's definitely a pall over the events here. Still, they do manage to conduct extensive interviews with three of the remaining mole people, and each, though no doubt greatly edited, gets enough screen time to make it worthwhile. And if the third interview tends to reinforce the stereotype that the homeless-by-choice are all mentally unstable, the first two do their best to smash it. In fact, the woman (one of, she claims, only two who had lived in the tunnels for any length of time at the time the interview was conducted) interviewed in the middle portion of the film lays claim to veteran status and a college degree. Not to say that college graduates and veterans aren't mentally unstable, but nothing about her comes off that way, save a (forgivable, given the sanitary conditions of her surroundings) touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I've used the word "fascinating" way too much in this batch of reviews, but once again, it applies. The three interviewees give riveting accounts of living outside the grid, while the crew, almost as an afterthought, are intercut giving their impressions of travelling through the tunnels. (And, as I mentioned before, there are also intercuts of Toth giving her impressions on what she had discovered during her sojourn to the tunnels a decade previous.) Most interestingly, I rarely felt pity for the interviewees. (The last of them, who in non-technical terms was totally round the bend, was the exception, but a qualified exception; there was no indication of whether he was crazy before he moved into the tunnels, or whether a decade and a half spent underground had eaten away at his sanity. He never tells us; I doubt he knows. Certainly no one else would.) While it may not be the case, they certainly give the impression that they have carved their niche out of the world, and are content with it, if perhaps a bit less than they were before the publication of Toth's book.

This is not an easy video to find these days, and to my knowledge, it has never seen a DVD release. But it's worth hunting down. There is a world beneath ours; it is a small world, but it is worth understanding. *** ½

This movie was really really creepy. It was so creepy that I couldn't sleep for two whole weeks. And when I did finally sleep I had creepy dreams. Do you know why I had creepy dreams? I had them because this movie was so damn creepy! What was the creepiest thing about it? I'll tell you... I found out that there are people living underneath me. Not the neighbors either. Not even the people who sometimes sleep in the laundromat. Way way below them. If you see this movie you will find out about them and you will be creeped out too!.......bon appetit.

you see them walking around and you've wondered where they go at night or come from."The Mole People" the whole story will tell you.Underneth the subways of NY, this is the story of the people down there,like way down there,some for more than 10 years.The scenes are real the location scary and the story compelling.It's a must see "The Mole People" there out there

This movie can be compared to Alien Autopsy to a degree.
You actually come to terms with the fact that there is another
civilization out there, unlike that which you know...

...only difference, of course, is that Alien Autopsy was fake.
The Mole People are real. Now, everyday when I wake up, I think
that we're not alone. There is another civilization where there
is no day or night. There is no time.

You would never think that it is true, but indeed this film is a documentary therefore it is true!!!What an outstanding film on such an unique subject!!!Any movie that leaves you with questions after it is over, gets five stars from me!! Anytime I am in the city I am always looking for those special places that these people enter. How do they do it??? Life down there is another world and one which Victor has captured perfectly through his camera work and editing!!!! A spectacular Documentary and one which should be watched. I am waiting for the Mole people Part two;You've reached the MOLE ZONE!