The Man Who Loved UFOs 2024 Movie Review
The Man Who Loved UFOs (El hombre que amaba los platos voladores) dramatises Argentinian journalist José de Zer’s main claim to fame – the proof of alien life and the sightings of unidentified flying objects in a small hill town of the country. But here’s the catch. In order to create unprecedented hype, one that would boost both TV ratings and his own celebrity, José fabricated evidence by way of fake interviews, falsified paintings and planting of props to mislead the public. All he had to go on was a burnt, perfectly circular patch of meadow whose origins were unknown.
After reluctant approval from his bosses at the television channel, the town of La Candelaria in Córdoba province became the centre of hysteria and the toast of the country in 1986. Where the film remains interesting is in the development of its lead, and his crazy motivations to prove a point. Nobody quite knows what that point is, though. The Man Who Loved UFOs is a character study of ego, eccentricity and belief. Why exactly José (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is going to such great lengths to hoodwink a large audience about his alien theory (despite peddling lies at every stage) is not a simple answer. One of the reasons is all the newfound attention coming his way. Meanwhile, his ex-wife and daughter see this as a sign of him losing his marbles. On the other end of the spectrum, José truly buys into the concept of extra-terrestrial life, and through his make-believe set-up in La Candelaria, hopes to uncover some actual proof. On their first car ride there, José brings up his involvement in the Six-Day War with cameraman and friend, Chango (Sergio Prina). He was supposedly stranded by himself in the Sinai desert when a large shadow was cast on the dunes. Following the cheeky interview of a renowned stage performer, José loses consciousness after witnessing a strange light in the sky. Are these “connected” events from years apart merely his mind playing tricks?
A local mining company’s owners having vested interests in the UFO sightings, the emergence of a paranormal expert from thin air, and hapless residents trying to keep up with José’s unreasonable demands, add to the general confusion. The latter trains the La Candelaria townsfolk to provide realistic interviews so as to convince the audience across Argentina about the veracity of the claims. From getting video bytes from farmers about their horses being petrified to a boy whose hair has turned white overnight, José’s presence there is wholly absurd. The fake interviews, the training sessions to make his subjects expert liars, the planting of dead beetles and other paraphernalia, all the fabricated evidence required to make it to national television, is humorous in a Kafkaesque kind of way.
The larger story, however, is disappointing. Leonardo Sbaraglia plays the eccentric shades of José rather well, but there isn’t much to the screenplay apart from him. The narrative gets boring after a while, not knowing what to do apart from amble aimlessly for answers (much like its central character). The middle-aged journalist’s theatrics and unprovoked outbursts keep repeating on loop, making you wonder what the end game is? The narrative attempts to blur the line between mental health and belief, but the writing isn’t good enough to delve deeper. Instead, the film relies on acting performance alone. The absence of a fully formed script shows.
When José’s grand plan of broadcasting the extra-terrestrial story is on the verge of implosion, he admits to Chango that he is a phony and asks him if he thinks he’s batshit crazy. This is a sensitive and vulnerable moment in the film that the makers ought to have capitalised on. Perhaps even getting José to open up to his friend about his experiences and sustained belief that we, as humans, aren’t alone. His unhinged and unpredictable behaviour is so overdone in places that you’re not even sure what his belief system is. Is he doing this for the fame and attention? Is this his last shot at being relevant in television? Is he mentally unstable? Or does a small part of him want to believe that a fabricated story of UFO sightings will lead to a bigger, hidden truth? The answer, at best, is a vague all of the above. And, that’s a big maybe.
