An Alien Abduction Case and Human Drama

"Fire in the Sky" opens with a quotation from the Greek dramatist Aeschylus: "Thus does chance make a plaything of a man's life"-pretty highbrow stuff for a sci fi flick about an alien abduction. In fact, the opening quotation of this excellent and underrated screenplay by Tracy Torme is aptly chosen and deftly introduces the deeper, metaphysical underlying themes of the movie.

Far more than an exploitation film about UFOs, the film not only raises fundamental questions not about whether mankind is alone in the universe, it also portrays an almost Shakespeareanesque tragedy. The film reveals deep conflicts between the five witnesses and their community over the community's absolute denial of the witnesses' version of events, against all evidence.. The community simply cannot reconcile this version of events with their understanding of the physical world. Intertwined with the disbelief of this impossible-but-true presentation of the case is a very human story between Mike Rogers and Travis Walton--best of friends whose friendships are strained by controversy and resentment.

The Travis Walton abduction case remains to this day a classic UFO case, among the best documented on record. The genius of this film is that it begins with the premise that the case is absolutely real and portrays the incident in a stark, chilling, documentary-like sequence. Only then can the really interesting questions surface, What does it all mean, do we have the courage to ask and to face the truth, whatever the truth may be?

FIRE IN THE SKY

whether you believe in alien abductions or not..this is a great film that you should check out for its great story and intense atmoshere, robert patrick is very good in this movie along with sweeney and garner

Awesome movie that needs to be seen

Before shows like the "X-Files" premiered we relied
on movies like "Fire in the Sky" to satisfy our curiousity
about aliens and UFO's.

This movie is superbly directed, and acted. D.B. Sweeney
plays Travis Walton whose abducted one cold night in
Arizon in 1975.

What follows is a large amount of hysteria on the case.
Is he really missing or did his friends murder him?

Once he is found, is this still a large hoax?

As the movie shows us, none of this is true, and Walton
through some flashbacks and some physical abuse that
results in seizures relieves the terror he faced
while being abducted.

It does sound absurd but so far no one has been able
to discredit him either.

This is a good movie. The aliens look evil and scary,
Walton's little escapade inside the alien ship has
to be one of the most memorable moments in Sci-Fi
movie making history.