REVIEW - Hessdalen Valley Of Light (Directed by Scott Deschaine)

There are few regions of the world more renowned for their folklore, mythology and paranormal phenomena than Scandinavia. With trolls, Huldra, and the Vardøger being just some of the supernatural subjects of campfire tales warning weary travellers in hushed whispers of the Nordic nightmares obscured by the incredible natural beauty of Scandinavia's vast and wild landscape.

From GLOW Film, and written, produced and directed by multi award-winning filmmaker Scott Deschaine (Not Alone: NASA's Secret Science, Not Alone: The Life Above, The Cohoke Light, Draculaw) Hessdalen Valley of Light is a wonderful travel adventure documentary which follows a team of international researchers exploring the mysteries of the Hessdalen Valley - an area found chiefly atop any Google search of Norway's most prolific high-strangeness hot-spots - where, for many decades, thousands of witnesses have reported glowing orbs, flashing lights, and entities in the sky, often hovering for long periods of time or moving at remarkable speeds - known as the Hessdalen Lights.

This isn't Deschaine's first rodeo, and his 2021 hit feature documentary The Cohoke Light, also an examination of anomalous lights in the sky (but in rural Virginia instead of Norway) picked up 1 platinum award and 10 gold awards at the Fortean Film Festival in 2022 - garnering high praise with jury member, renowned Kiwi actor and comedian Brian Sergent (Eagle vs Shark, Flight of the Conchords, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Braindead/Dead Alive, Meet the Feebles) describing it as:

"An engaging vital piece of story-telling with a satisfying level of credibility and a nice touch of shiver down the spine."

With the bar set extraordinarily high already Deschaine takes on the mammoth challenge of following in his own footsteps - a challenge he rises to comfortably, as one of the world's leading authorities on these strange aerial light phenomena; his research being the focus of not just his own documentaries, but also of features in the prestigious Fortean Times magazine, and as a regular guest and expert on the popular Ghostly Talk podcast.

The absence of a definitive explanation for the Hessdalen Lights leaves the door open for a range of possibilities and theories; and Deschaine and his colleagues are not shy about putting forward their own hypothesis - they call it 'the living sky'.

According to Deschaine's living sky hypothesis the anomalous lights are biological in their nature - living beings - an as yet unknown type of bioluminescent entity that can gain lift and manoeuvre through the air; the case seemingly strengthened by the many eyewitnesses who describe lights that appear similar to jellyfish or are "squid-like" in their shape and movement.

A whole host of possible scientific explanations are put forward, ranging from magnetic fields and electrical storms, to geological gas omissions; and alternative theories are also explored, including extra-terrestrial visitors or alien entities.

Backed up by a strong cast of researchers and compelling witnesses, Deschaine also does a stellar job on the narration, speaking with experience and confidence in a style reminiscent of a classy PBS feature documentary, and in doing so helps to create a sense of intrigue and awe around this mystery that is uplifting and joyous rather than sinister and foreboding.

This excellent documentary fits very well into several overlapping genres and will no doubt have a very broad appeal encompassing fans of shows about science and nature, travel and adventure, unsolved mysteries, the supernatural/paranormal, and UAPs/UFOs to name but a few. Fascinating and thoroughly entertaining.