Review – Chariots of the Gods

They practically own South America. They taught the Incas everything they knew. It's been decades since I saw this great grandfather of all ancient astronaut documentaries, so I was surprised by three things I’d forgotten. First, it was really, really long. Though the running time is a standard 90 minutes or so, the narrative is so repetitive that it seems to drag on for far longer than that. Second, the soundtrack is an experiment in endurance. It sounds like it was composed by a trio made up of John Williams, Miles Davis in one of his free-form jazz odyssey moods, and a three year old attacking a Moog synthesizer like it stole his milk and cookies. Third, I’d forgotten the racism. Erich von Daniken’s thesis is that civilizations in Africa, South America and the Pacific were all created – or at least greatly influenced – by white people from outer space. The first two issues might have worked in a campy mock-fest way, but the third proved to be a deal breaker. See if desperate