''Behind the Curve'' is a 2018

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film about

flat Earth Flat Earth is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of the Figure of the Earth, Earth's shape as a Plane (geometry), plane or Disk (mathematics), disk. Many ancient cultures, notably in the cosmology in the ancient Near East, anci ...

believers in the United States. Directed by Daniel J. Clark, the film was released in the United States on November 15, 2018, and for wide release on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in February 2019. The documentary details ideas of the flat Earth from different perspectives, including prominent flat-Earthers Mark Sargent and Patricia Steere, as well as astrophysicists from universities including

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

. It features clips from the 2017 International Flat Earth Conference, held in North Carolina, US, which attracted hundreds of attendees from around the globe.

Synopsis

''Behind the Curve'' primarily focuses on flat Earth proponent Mark Sargent, and his life as an active member of the flat Earth community. Sargent discusses his interpretation of flat Earth theory, and his role as an advocate, as well as his series of YouTube videos and podcasts. It also follows Sargent as he attends various flat Earth gatherings. Other flat Earth believers featured include Patricia Steere, creator of the podcast ''Flat Earth and Other Hot Potatoes''; and Jeran Campanella and Bob Knodel, creators of the GlobeBusters YouTube channel. Professionals in the scientific community, including astronaut Scott Kelly, are interviewed about their views on the flat Earth conspiracy theory, and to discuss the current scientific views on conspiracy theories and the possible consequences of a lack of critical thinking in society. In the film, flat Earth advocates carry out experiments to test the hypothesis that the Earth is flat, the results of which confirm that the Earth is a globe, and so are discarded. The film also covers several conferences and meet-ups that the film's subjects attend, including the 2017 International Flat Earth Conference, held in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. When director Clark was asked in an interview about lessons from the film he said, "My dream would be that when people watch it, they take flat Eartherism as an analogy to something they believe in, because it's so easy to demonize another group or another person for something they think but you're kind of just as guilty if you do that."

Release

''Behind the Curve'' was first released at

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

, Toronto, Canada, on April 30, 2018. It has since been screened at various film festivals around the world.

Reception

The film has received positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the documentary holds a approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . Reviews described the film as "hilarious, informative, but pressing" and "empathetic", with several commentators praising its "humanistic look at some of the most ridiculed people in America". After the release of the film, Sargent and Steere both claimed their fanbase has grown considerably.

References

External links

* * {{Netflix title 2018 documentary films 2018 films American documentary films Documentary films about science Documentary films about the Internet Flat Earth 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films