Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
buy it, see it, April 24, 2008
This is a great film for true believers and skeptics alike. It intelligently asks all the right questions, including those that have no easy answers. The subjects, who have certainly had some kind of extreme experience, are treated with respect and allowed to tell their stories, even as the film maker posits alternate interpretations. Belief aside, the film is worth it if only to hear the hair-raising stories told by the subjects.
Highly recommended.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must-see for alien abduction inquisitives , June 18, 2008
I attended the world premier showing of this film at the Boston Museum of Fine Art a few years ago. I was invited as a special guest because I personally knew some of the people who produced and crafted the film, and I also personally knew Dr. John Mack and the two (American) abductees, Karin and Peter, and Peter's wife, Jamy. I had known the film was in production far ahead of the premier showing, so I was very excited, and a bit anxious, to see how the finished piece came out. Anxious, because, some years earlier, I had viewed Dr. Mack and Budd Hopkins in a WGBH TV segment about the alien abduction phenomena, and was very disappointed to see what was, in my opinion, a shameful example of character assassination against both researchers, portraying them as lunatic-fringe amateurs instead of the world-class investigators I knew them to be. The abductees in the WGBH segment were similarly treated - as hopeless victims of delusional fantasy. Overall, not the level of balanced, objective, and insightful journalism I normally see from WGBH.
In contrast, I was pleased and relieved to find Laurel Chiten's portrayal of the abductees and Dr. Mack to be an intelligently balanced and respectfully sensitive story of normal people trying to make sense of extraordinary and life-shattering experiences, and a Harvard Psychiatrist who is trying to both understand the phenomena and help these people put their lives back together. I found the abductees' first-person accounts of alien abduction, at times, difficult to bear, almost as if I shouldn't be listening to something so personally upsetting, to them - and far too close to home, for me. But the film draws you into their stories, past the initial abduction events and through the painful search for answers, ultimately culminating in an inspiring conclusion. The film also provides Dr. Mack a respectful podium to share his research findings and personal thoughts on the subject, which are then intelligently balanced with pro and con peer perspective. There is even some comical relief - I liked the series of montage newspaper headlines about Dr. Mack and his controversial field of study, especially the one that read: "Mack-o the Whack-o, is Back-o" - ha, ha - only in America... Lastly, I would like to say that I have the pleasure of knowing Karen, and Peter & Jamy. These are intelligent, highly educated, ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences, who are not delusional or fantasy prone, and who are not looking for media attention. There are thousands, maybe millions, of people just like them all across America, and the world, who are asking the same searching questions, and who are desperately in need of intelligent, qualified, and sensitive support professionals who can help them rebuild their lives. John Mack, along with other world-class researchers like Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs, and Raymond Fowler, was one of the best. He is greatly missed by all of us who knew him and loved him. This film is a superbly crafted testament to the man and his vision. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the alien abduction phenomenon, and/or Dr. John Mack's alien abduction research.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Touched' - Great, Artistically Done Documentary, March 24, 2008
A few years ago, I attended the world premiere of "Touched" at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. The "MFA" as it's known, has a film program that screens many films most people otherwise wouldn't see, including many hard-to-find foreign and artistic films. Imagine my surprise when I found out that "Touched," which tells the stories of people who believe they've had contact with extraterrestrials, was on the schedule. I'd thought to myself that the MFA had sunk to a new low, pandering to popular fads instead of showing worthwhile films. However, upon looking more closely at the schedule, I found out that a couple of special guests would be at the premiere, which excited my interest in attending. The first would be the filmmaker herself, Laurel Chiten; the second would be John Mack, MD, the psychiatrist on the Harvard University medical school faculty who believes the stories of those who claim to have been in touch with, even abducted by, aliens from another world or dimension. The more I thought of it, the more I knew I couldn't pass up the chance to see "Mack-o the Wacko" (as he's been described in a column by Boston Globe writer Alex Beam) in person.
My wife and I purchased tickets online, and we braved late rush-hour Boston traffic to drive into the MFA for the 8PM showing of the film. It was a good thing we'd bought our tickets early; a sign on the parking lot booth as we drove into the MFA lot stated that "Touched" was sold out. We crowded into our seats in the packed auditorium, comprised mostly of "normal-looking" people, and then we were treated to the showing of "Touched."
Truthfully, the film itself was quite good. It wasn't the sideshow I'd feared; on the contrary, it was quite artistically done and in my opinion shone as a piece of filmmaking. As for its content, it wasn't pro-or-con as far as whether extraterrestrials exist and love to snatch people in the middle of the night, a point stressed by Ms. Chiten when she spoke at the conclusion of the film. The film was about telling several stories surrounding the phenomena of alien contacts and kidnappings and how this affected various peoples' lives.
The film showcased the stories of two people, Karin and Peter, and how they feel they've had contact with and been abducted by aliens, and the effects on their families. (Peter attended the premiere with his wife, Jamy, and was introduced after the showing.) The film also prominently featured Dr. John Mack, and his relationships not only with his patients who'd claimed to have had alien contact, but also with his peers at Harvard and in the medical community at large. Other people, including the Vatican's own "demonologist", one Father Balducci, were interviewed and gave their opinions on the subject of alien visitations. (Father Balducci allowed for that possibility.) The filmmakers also journeyed to Brazil, to interview people there who'd claimed contact with aliens, including one musician who'd claimed that extraterrestrials had planted a device in his ear, which they'd extracted through his nose at a later visitation. I suppose this was to show that delusions are cross-cultural...?
As for Dr. Mack, in the film he came across as quite sane and cultured, and it was easy to see how members of the general public could be swayed into believing alien abductions are real phenomena. His academic "vitals" were even brought up by a Dr. Relman, a fellow member of the Harvard med school faculty interviewed in the film who doesn't share Dr. Mack's views on aliens -- his publications, his Pulitzer prize, etc.
At one point, Dr. Mack scoffs at the late Carl Sagan's views that many stories of alien abductions were in fact recountings of hallucinations." What does [Carl Sagan] know about hallucinations," growled Dr. Mack in the film. (Personal note: Apparently more than you, MD and all, Dr. Mack.) Audio tapes of the psychiatric sessions with Peter were also featured in the film; these were quite disturbing, to say the least. On the tapes, Dr. Mack was leading Peter through "regression therapy" using hypnosis. The screams and cries as Peter remembered, or imagined he remembered, abductions and various discomforts at the hands of the "aliens" were disturbing to hear. Through the film's playing of those tapes, I thought not only how deluded Peter was, but how deluded Mack was.
I almost wish I could say that the tapes showed a self-serving psychiatrist exploiting a patient for his own special notoriety, but I didn't get that impression. What I got was the impression of a doctor who had been sucked (at least partially) into the fantasy world inhabited by his patients (another phenomenon cited by the late Dr. Sagan in his book, "The Demon-Haunted World") and was questioning them as though the delusions really occurred. As any psychiatrist, psychologist, or even reasonably intelligent lay person could tell you, a doctor who's been drawn into the delusional world of his obviously disturbed patient, isn't doing that patient any good and at the same time is doing himself quite a bit of harm.
While I didn't get the sense that Dr. Mack was completely drawn into the world of his patients, I did get the sense that he would at least consider that the worlds they described were real -- dangerous enough in and of itself.
Both in the film, and in the post-showing Q&A session that followed, when Dr. Mack spoke about his beliefs I honestly got the feeling he was somewhat, umm, fluid. He didn't come right out and say that these people were abducted by aliens who came down from spaceships; he allowed for the possibility that they came from other dimensions or planes of existence, somewhere out of normal time and space, places that were ethereal, without physical substance perhaps. (Convenient explanation for the utter lack of any convincing physical evidence, eh, doc?)
I got the sense that Dr. Mack was espousing the viewpoint, "Well, science can't disprove the existence of other dimensions, planes of existence, etc." True enough, Dr. Mack, but as is often pointed out, the one claiming a particular view who wants the approval of the scientific community of that view, must be the one to prove that view; it's not up to the community to disprove it. And when the mental health of several persons is at stake, taking jaunts into the "alternate" world is irresponsible at best. In the film, Dr. Mack also poo-poohed "Western science" for its lack of imagination, for its supposed refusal to allow anything into its circle of thought that couldn't be proven. Isn't that what science is about? Also, just like there's no such thing as "conventional" vs. "alternative" medicine (just medicine that works vs. medicine that doesn't) there's no "Western" or "Eastern" science. There is just "science."
One may believe what one wants, in the metaphysical or spiritual sense, but if one wants to claim the "approval" of science then one has to do better than Dr. Mack has done.
From my sense of the audience, the film didn't seem to convince anyone there that extraterrestrials have visited Earth and have abducted people, including those who appeared in the film. There was a lot of laughter throughout the film, though not directed at those who shared their stories; there were many humorous moments, thanks to the filmmaker's talents. One such moment was when Ms. Chiten showed images of newspaper articles on Dr. Mack, including one titled "Should Harvard Beam Him Up?" It was my sense that, during the sequences when tapes from Peter's sessions with Dr. Mack were played, people were made very uncomfortable by what they heard. I honestly don't believe Dr. Mack won over any fans with those sequences.
I'd recommend the film highly, if someone wants to hear human stories about seemingly normal, yet torn people, and the people in their lives. I'd also recommend it as a superb piece of documentary filmmaking, and Ms. Chiten is to be commended for her artistry. I don't believe this film would convince any skeptics that aliens walk among us, and to Ms. Chiten's credit that's not what she set out to do. The film tells human stories, the physical truth behind them is left to the viewer, and I honestly don't see any rational viewers coming away from the film scared they'll be abducted from their beds. I felt it was also educational to see how very well-schooled people with great credentials, like a John Mack, can fall into a pool of delusion themselves; odd beliefs are not the exclusive province of the "crazy" or eccentric people among us, but are shared even among well-educated, prominent people.
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