Mar 20, 2023 11:06 PM
https://bigthink.com/the-present/what-ha...cumentary/
EXCERPTS: Unless it’s on National Geographic, I am deeply skeptical of documentaries. It seems that many films that label themselves as such are primarily about presenting a polished, highly persuasive narrative — but whether that narrative is true is of secondary importance. Depending on the topic, a documentary that chooses to have a casual relationship with the truth can range from mostly benign entertainment (like Animal Planet’s Mermaids) to nefarious propaganda (like Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11). Unfortunately, Netflix’s new documentary, MH370: The Plane that Disappeared, is more akin to the latter.
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing just after 12:40 am (00:40) local time. It never reached its destination. Roughly 40 minutes into the flight, the plane vanished from airport radar and took an unexpected U-turn, flying over the Malay peninsula, then over the Andaman Sea next to Thailand.
What happened after that is the subject of speculation, but we at least know this: Pieces of the airplane washed ashore on Réunion Island and in various African countries (like Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, and South Africa), indicating that it crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. In fact, using a model of ocean currents, scientists predicted 12 months in advance that debris would float westward toward Africa — and, indeed, the debris was eventually found there.
So, how did the plane end up in the southern Indian Ocean when it was supposed to go north to China? The existing evidence strongly suggests that the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, intricately planned a mass murder-suicide...
[...] Unfortunately, there is no “smoking gun” proving that Zaharie is guilty. ... We are, therefore, in the frustrating position of knowing the likely truth but being unable to prove it. And precisely because there isn’t 100% uncertainty, conspiracy theorists have stepped in, confident that their bizarre explanations are every bit as legitimate as the “MH370 consensus,” such as it is. This is where the Netflix documentary comes into play.
The three-part series MH370: The Plane that Disappeared proposed three theories to explain what happened: (1) The Pilot, (2) The Hijack, and (3) The Intercept. To its credit, the documentary explained everything that I have written above in the first theory about the pilot. If only Netflix had stopped there. Instead, it went on to propose two more theories... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Unless it’s on National Geographic, I am deeply skeptical of documentaries. It seems that many films that label themselves as such are primarily about presenting a polished, highly persuasive narrative — but whether that narrative is true is of secondary importance. Depending on the topic, a documentary that chooses to have a casual relationship with the truth can range from mostly benign entertainment (like Animal Planet’s Mermaids) to nefarious propaganda (like Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11). Unfortunately, Netflix’s new documentary, MH370: The Plane that Disappeared, is more akin to the latter.
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing just after 12:40 am (00:40) local time. It never reached its destination. Roughly 40 minutes into the flight, the plane vanished from airport radar and took an unexpected U-turn, flying over the Malay peninsula, then over the Andaman Sea next to Thailand.
What happened after that is the subject of speculation, but we at least know this: Pieces of the airplane washed ashore on Réunion Island and in various African countries (like Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, and South Africa), indicating that it crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. In fact, using a model of ocean currents, scientists predicted 12 months in advance that debris would float westward toward Africa — and, indeed, the debris was eventually found there.
So, how did the plane end up in the southern Indian Ocean when it was supposed to go north to China? The existing evidence strongly suggests that the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, intricately planned a mass murder-suicide...
[...] Unfortunately, there is no “smoking gun” proving that Zaharie is guilty. ... We are, therefore, in the frustrating position of knowing the likely truth but being unable to prove it. And precisely because there isn’t 100% uncertainty, conspiracy theorists have stepped in, confident that their bizarre explanations are every bit as legitimate as the “MH370 consensus,” such as it is. This is where the Netflix documentary comes into play.
The three-part series MH370: The Plane that Disappeared proposed three theories to explain what happened: (1) The Pilot, (2) The Hijack, and (3) The Intercept. To its credit, the documentary explained everything that I have written above in the first theory about the pilot. If only Netflix had stopped there. Instead, it went on to propose two more theories... (MORE - missing details)