Charlie Victor Romeo (2013) User Reviews

Reality aviation, true to form.

[larrymacdonald · 7/10 · 26 May 2015]

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I'm surprised the film was ever made, as I imagine the audience would be limited. But, I'm glad it was. It reveals the intensity of sudden emergencies and the chaos they create.

Many of these emergencies were completely out of the control of the pilots. They did nothing to contribute to the problems. As passengers, we wonder how they are working in the cockpit. We could not imagine the drama that unfolds when three highly trained specialists are handed situations that no one anticipated or planned for.

Like a ballet, it looks easy, but it isn't. All the actions are intuitive, because you have to act without thinking...you actions are all hardwired into your brain through training. I think the film portrays accurately the heroism of our airline pilots.

I am a former flight instructor, but I have never seen any similar film that is actually acted out according to the recorded speech and on the same cadence as the pilots experienced in flight.

You can see how the airlines of foreign carriers have no chance of survival in cases where they have to fly by the seat of their pants. They aren't trained to react in situations that aren't spelled out in the flight manuals or handled by computers. Plus, they have cultural communications issues that impede direct intervention in emergencies, which can unfold in seconds.

I urge anyone flying on Asian carriers (plus other countries, I'm sure) to never get on a plane that is flying into bad weather, because the pilots' options are limited by their lack of hands-on training.

Not a film for most people. Slow

[elle_kittyca · 5/10 · 11 September 2015]

This is not an awful movie by any means, but it is not for everyone. The review that I read gave it 9 stars out of ten, which is was exceedingly generous. You would have to be an aircrash enthusiast and also you would have to have an incredible attention span. Myself, I often watch "aircrash investigation" and "Mayday." So it should be said to start with that I enjoy this topic. It was interesting to hear so much of the recordings from black boxes. But most people will not be able to sit through long (ten minutes) periods of uneventful flight. Some people might find the interactions of the pilots during emergencies interesting, but few people would be able to figure out the intracacies of what is going without any commentary. I would recommend Mayday or aci for most people. This movie will not be worth watching for the general population.

Aviation creepy

[troyboy6868 · 6/10 · 15 April 2015]

To start, I am not part of the family/friends/crew blitz of reviews and message posts we all have to sort through in our research of movies and docs.

This was really fascinating! I am an aviation nerd and I assure you, it doesn't get more dramatic than in the cockpit of an airplane that is in crisis. I have long been obsessed with cockpit voice recordings and I love the fact that the director(s) used them word for word. The sets are a bit low rent, but the recordings are so intriguing you hardly notice.

If you love shows about airplane accidents or other aviation related media, CVR is well worth a look. 6/10

a spell-binding, psychological thrilling techno experience within a tension-filled cockpit

[HollywoodGlee · 9/10 · 13 November 2013]

Interestingly, the film "Charlie Victor Romeo," evolved from an award-winning play created in 1999 by Daniels, Berger and Gregory. The play captured two Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience and Outstanding Sound Design and received recognition from Time Magazine in 2004 as Best Theatre Top Ten plays. The 1999 theater version eventually was videotaped and the Smithsonian Aviation Museum reviewed it. Shortly thereafter, the aviation community picked it up and incorporated it into its repertoire of training tools for its pilots' Crew Resource Management. After its 1999 opening at Collective:Unconscious in New York City, the played toured internationally and nationally until 2008.

The film version of "Charlie Victor Romeo," is a collaborative effort between Collective:Unconscious and 3LD Art & Technology Center. The production was filmed at 3LD Art & Technology Center as part of its new 3LD/3D+ program, a cross-platform for distribution and production of experimental work and made its West Coast premiere on Saturday, November 9th, at the AFI Filmfest 2013. Following the second viewing at the Filmfest on November 11th, the cast of Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory, Noel Dinneen, Sam Zuckerman, Debbie Troche and Nora Wooley hosted a Q & A. Producer Catarina Bartha was also in the house to support her cast.

Berger, when asked what was the motivation behind the project, conveyed that it wasn't anything political that it was simply trying to make something of interest to an audience.

In its most basic sense, "Charlie Victor Romeo," dramatizes the human intensity that surfaces during the distressed descents of six airline crashes culled from dialogs taken from the surviving black box transcripts. In introducing the affected flights overlay schematics display the failed mechanical parts of the air crafts.

The team of screenwriters, Berger, Daniels and Gregory, scoured the typed transcripts of scores of airline emergencies and crashes, finally settling on the six presented. The criteria used in choosing which emergencies to dramatize the team wanted scenarios with enough emotional intensity that they could perform the scenes dramatically. They also wanted situations that illuminated the aviation perspective. And, finally, they wanted material that allowed their performances to create a bridge for the audience between professional aviation and their art in portraying the human aspect of handling an aviation emergency while in in-flight when things go horribly wrong. All the flights selected had issues due to mechanical failures.

"Charlie Victor Romeo," creates a spell-binding, psychological thrilling techs experience within a tension-filled cockpit as the flight crews provide testament to the ability to live life to the very last second while deftly providing insight into who the people are that we entrust our lives to during airline flights and what they do when things go horribly wrong. Furthermore, the conscious decision to use 3D technology enabled the troupe to help bring the reality of being in the cockpit directly to the audience consciousness during the catastrophic experience as the pilots fight to save their passengers and themselves from an impending disaster.

In my opinion, "Charlie Victor Romeo," pushes boundaries proving stereoscopic lensing is no longer the exclusive d0main of the epic major studios productions. But more than that, "Charlie Victor Romeo," takes real-life aviation emergencies and brings them into the mainstream consciousness in a very humanistic way. Recommended.

SNAFU Watch MAYDAY Instead.

[headfella · 2/10 · 31 January 2015]

By no stretch of the imagination am I an airline pilot. I do have 35 years in aviation as a Canadian bush pilot and much later as a Civil Aviation Inspector. So I have some technical knowledge in this area and some training in CRM.

In my humble opinion, this is not a movie for the general public. It's just way too confusing. If nothing else, these cockpit voice recordings show how very limiting a CVR recording can be. Without any background information on the event being vocalized, it's just a bunch of folks in the cockpit screaming at one another at times. I'm a little bewildered why this film is receiving such high marks in some aviation circles. Without some form of analysis, a voice over for example, it fails miserably as Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) tool.

First - what would help this movie is a split screen. The top half would be the CVR recordings and the lower half would be a computer generated animation of what is happening outside the aircraft and some other exterior references. That might help the general viewer figure out just what the heck is going on - like is depicted in MAYDAY episodes.

Second - It also suffers from poor production value. The same crew(s) are used too frequently wearing the same uniforms in the very same "cockpit". At times the drone of the engines almost mask out the dialogue. Some subtitling would have come in handy with every chapter since it's very difficult to understand the crews when they are on communicating at the verge of utter panic.

Third - The "reveal" at the end of the chapter fails to explain why the aircraft lost control or the accident in some cases. What the heck just happened?! In essence the viewer is now forced to discuss the incident with a knowledgeable colleague or search out the incident on the internet. So then - what was the point.

I really was looking forward to viewing my rental of this movie but if you're seeking an understanding of what can, what has and what will go wrong in a cockpit, or other aspects to aircraft operation, then watch the many MAYDAY episodes available in YouTube. Sorry folks, it's a valiant effort but not good enough - 2 out of 10.

Chris Gartner, Winnipeg Canada, January 2015

"Speed... this is the sh*t that is going to f*** us."

[shoobe01 · 10/10 · 16 April 2015]

It is one thing to read aviation accident reports (and I do) even to the transcripts. It is another to listen to them, and in 1999 someone made a purportedly-awesome stage play where actors read, in a mockup cockpit, with annunciators and stuff, actual CVR transcripts (almost word for word, almost in real time).

I had heard great things about it for CRM (crew resource management) training, and there was a low quality video that was distributed for only that purpose (which I never saw). But it turns out in 2013 they secretly made this and it. Is. Awesome. I know some of these accidents well and it adds an entirely other dimension to them. I stopped during the Aeroperu static tube crash to quote the line in the title to some people I know because as much as reading the report makes you go "wow, that must have sucked" this makes it really personal.

Sometimes uncomfortably so. I mean, it's super not for nervous fliers, and if you are flight crew be careful when you watch it, as you may not sleep. It is very, very well done I think. I also totally agree that it provides a nice launching off point for discussions of CRM, team dynamics, sterile cockpit rules, general crisis management, etc. so may have training value for you, and your coworkers.

All in all, one of the best things I have seen on film in years.

Good Concept, Lousy Execution

[mwalker-61 · 2/10 · 16 May 2015]

The concept of this movie - using transcripts of cockpit voice recordings to re-enact air crashes - should have made for an intriguing, even fascinating, motion picture, and the producers obviously invested much effort and money in the 3-D animations, which are very good.

Unfortunately, they either didn't have enough money left or didn't care enough to make the live action portions of the movie even remotely realistic. A single cockpit mock-up is used for all the vignettes, regardless of the type of aircraft involved, and it seems to have been made as simply and cheaply as possible, since it's not much better than the cardboard cockpit set of the infamous "Plan 9 From Outer Space." Also, just a few actors are employed, and we see the same faces over and over. Even the uniforms worn are identical in each vignette, regardless of the airline involved, and are not very well done.

But, for me, the last straw was that we are not even told what caused each crash, nor anything of the aftermath, and are left wondering what went wrong and what, if anything, was done to prevent a recurrence.

As a result of the poor production values for the live action sequences and the omission of facts needed to answer questions viewers will certainly have, I cannot recommend this movie.

What 3D does best. Immersion. They nail it.

[john-401-393060 · 10/10 · 11 February 2014]

Stereoscopic production to document live theater is one of the many niche areas for which it's perfectly suited. In Charlie Victor Romeo the 3D is so efficiently used that you'll forget it's a film. It does what 3D does best. Immerse. By using Cockpit Voice Recorder transcripts it takes you into that little room past 1st class where complete boredom suddenly turns into nail biting drama. And special effects you generate in the theater of the mind are more terrifying than any CGI. I think you'll agree it could never reach such an emotional high point without 3D. No slow-mo 3D, dragons or aliens. But real super heroes in action. For some, their last actions. In 3D, you're in that Cockpit with the crew. So part of you is a passenger, part NTSB investigator. The emotional draw is intense. You feel attached to the Crew so when the scene ends and their fate is revealed, you're touched. The slight release of tension comes when the actors reappear in other scenes and you say to yourself, "That's right, it's only a film." These folks nailed it so well that CVR is being used for Pilot training.

Watching paint dry would be more interesting

[lyndalu-45740 · 1/10 · 31 May 2019]

Wow, this is so stupid where do I begin. It's NOT a documentary. It's a couple guys sitting behind a table acting out a skit of a couple pilots flying a plane talking about nothing interesting. I love Air Crash Investigations and Mayday. This is NOTHING like those shows. This is like a really boring low budget play.

Words and acting trump special effects with well done 3D

[rupertmanband · 9/10 · 11 May 2015]

A theater piece shot in 3D with a minimal set, a simple idea, yet yielding high drama and action simply from the transcripts of these aviation disasters.

This is a play where it is all about the words and the fact that those words are what really happened. Highly riveting and the blackouts are used to great effect. Here the adrenaline is genuine, not some CGI roller-coaster and it is made more compelling because if you have ever been a passenger on a airplane, it takes you where you probably wouldn't choose to go.

If you are going on a flight somewhere you probably wouldn't want to watch this movie. I am certain that this will never be an in-flight movie. You may want to consider the train or a bus after watching this.

Not a popcorn, action adventure, or any other kid of movie genre that is commercial - this is theater and an art film, not typical product.

The 3D is simple, effective and done as if that is just the way to shoot films, without the usual gimmicks and in your face rudeness of many 3D movies.

Yikes!

[antcol8 · 8/10 · 3 February 2014]

Yikes, indeed! I fly every week...

It's like those horror stories of restaurants: what's actually going on back there?

What's going on up in the cockpit?

I had an emergency landing last year - en route for Istanbul, diverted to St. John's, Newfoundland. 2 hours on the ground before takeoff, bumpy start, turbulence...The flight attendants got edgier and edgier. Soon they were practically barking instructions.

I did the only sane thing - fell asleep. Woke on the descent into St. John's.

What must have been going on in the cockpit? After seeing this film, I have some idea.

TMI? Well, no.

I really admire artists who come up with some kind of unique or wacky conceit or concept. And then, rather than leave it by the barstool, follow it through, in a clear - headed, not overly overstated kind of way.

6 Black Box stories. 3 - D glasses. A cockpit. A few sound effects. Some very effective editing - only when it's needed.

You want to laugh at the geese chapter. Just because it's really short and ridiculous. But it ain't funny. At all.

Those people on the last flight, the Sioux City, Iowa one, were incredible. Their professionalism can truly be called touching. They reminded me of some of the soldiers in Ford's Fort Apache (certainly NOT the Henry Fonda character!). There's actually a lot of available documentation about that one.

An amazing film. Recommend it? Well...Best to know what you're getting into.

Not a pilot, but the life and death position is for real.

[quimico-15548 · 10/10 · 18 March 2023]

People pick apart the production values. This isn't mayday or any other series with a British guy narrating but it is true to nature. I've been in a aircraft incident and there isn't screaming or praying out loud. You could hear a pin drop. They did a really good job not over dramatizing life and death. Granted it is a dark show, but listening to the the pilots up until that thud is for real. Ok, apparently I have to reach some character limit. It's a good film, you would not be a miss if you watched it. It's dark, but it's a really good representation of how people react to real life. 12345678.