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Purely Joyful Movie!

Admirable film.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Werner Herzog coined the term 'ecstatic truth' to describe documentaries that take some measure of dramatic liberty with their subject in order to reveal a deeper, more meaningful truth than merely the "truth of accountants".The Hellstrom Chronicle is a great example of this. It's a brilliant, hyper-serious, scientifically accurate, dramatized documentary about the destiny of insects to once again assume dominion over the Earth.The host and narrator, Dr. Hellstrom, is a scientist of deadly earnestness who knows how to turn a dramatic phrase as well as Shakespeare. He describes the 300 million year evolution of the insect thusly: "With each new generation come new experiments in shape and function transforming him into specters as limitless as the imagination of the insane." Along with the wonderful narration and compelling storyline, the closeup photography of the insects is incredible, sometimes beautiful and sometimes terrifying. There is perhaps no image more horrific in nature than that of a grotesquely bloated termite queen throbbing in perpetual birth.I recommend this to anyone who likes nature documentaries and also anyone who appreciates satire, as the level of seriousness in The Hellstrom Chronicle is so unrelentingly high, that one must ultimately marvel at its audacity.

Only by chance did I manage to find out about this hidden gem, and I'm glad I did. While many disaster movies of late seem to put the emphasis on earthquakes, tidal waves, meteor strikes, fires and floods, The Hellstrom Chronicle looks at a perfectly plausible demise for the human race - itty bitty insects.And while it may sound like some sort of joke, the case for such a scenario is well documented here. There is a degree of dramatisation involved, granted, but there's no getting away from the fact that given the right set of conditions, mankind could be faced with pestilence or famine on such a huge scale that it threatens their very survival.Bear in mind that this feature was made in 1971 - so excuse the big hair, tweed jackets and not-so-high-definition images - but nonetheless, there are some jaw-dropping sequences that make you say 'HOW did they get that shot?', despite it's thirty-something age.I also need to add that it's extremely difficult to get hold of - as far as I know, it isn't available on DVD, although you may be able to find it on VHS or BETA at a thrift store - so if you see it advertised in your TV guide one week, be sure to set the timer.Fascinating, if a little dated, stuff.

"The Hellstrom Chronicle", a well-done science mocumentary, came more than thirty years before Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," but the parallels are uncanny.Both movies received undeserved Oscars in the documentary field.Both were fake.Both fooled a lot of people who might otherwise have been assumed to be intelligent.The frightening differences are that "Hellstrom" did not spawn a religion of hysterical fanatics who want to destroy our quality of life and our economy."Hellstrom" was never used as a bible to brainwash college students and even innocent school children.The producer of "Hellstrom" was not given the Nobel Prize (presumably the Nobel still had some credibility in 1971).And "Hellstrom" was ultimately laughed off as a silly piece of entertainment.Which is exactly what should happen to "An Inconvenient Truth."

This film. when I saw it years ago, had me convinced that it was a real "documentary." Excellent special effects and a very good performance by Lawrence Pressman.More convincing it its way than the current Blair Witch Project which also purports to be a real story