What would happen if an alien life form came to earth for first contact with man? Whether dream or nightmare, the idea haunts us and has fed our imaginations for decades. With the help of a number of space agency experts, The Visit – An Alien Encounter explores how such an encounter would play out, asking the questions the world’s inhabitants might have.

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Oddly enough, there is also the movie The Visit by M. Night Shyamalan, which came out a few weeks ago about two kids sent to stay with their weird grandparents. This documentary by Michael Madsen (Into Eternity) is something else, taking on the subject of extraterrestrials – albeit one that Shyamalan dealt with 13 years ago in Signs. Madsen has a different take on it though, adding an amusing touch. He looks seriously at the issues of aliens from outer space by packaging it as a fictional documentary (a “simulation”, as it is labeled in the beginning), which raises political arguments even as it is very moving. While the exercise is interesting, the movie itself is less so, as Madsen runs out of things to do with his idea, leaving the ending rather flat.