Upamanyu Biswas
In Netflix’s ‘The Man Who Loved UFOs,‘ an entertainment journalist named José de Zer finds himself with a unique opportunity after hearing reports of a UFO sighting in a rural area. Although the field evidence is sparse and limited to a burnt pasture, José uses it to his advantage by crafting a report that garners huge attention from the viewing public. The movie partially draws inspiration from José de Zer’s real-life exploits from 1986, as he etched his name into folklore by fabricating one of the biggest alien sighting stories of all time. Although the narrative blurs the lines between fiction and reality, the Argentine reporter’s UFO obsession becomes a gateway into the movie’s deeper themes and crafts an intriguing narrative brimming with excitement!
José de Zer Was a Reporter Who Chased All Manner of Outlandish Cases
José de Zer was born in 1941 as José Keizer. His father was a theater lighting designer, and José himself went on to have an eclectic life that was not without its share of adventure. He survived the Six Days War in Israel as a young reserve lieutenant in 1967 and also lived through a serious car accident in Patagonia. Subsequently, he had a storied career in journalism, initially working for small newspapers before moving on to the magazine Gente. He also hosted a radio show known as Generación Espontánea before he transitioned into the mainstream TV business. At the time, the media business was still an evolving sector in Argentine society, and he became a significant icon of it after joining the news program Nuevediario in 1984.
The topics covered by José ranged from bizarre, paranormal claims to solid day-to-day reporting like crime stories and show business. He even befriended celebrities like Alberto Olmedo and the governor of Buenos Aires, Eduardo Duhalde, who later became the president of Argentina. Some of his more outlandish cases include gnomes wandering around La Plata, chasing chupacabras, and a magnetic pit with the ability to pull people in, among many others. He was described as having a severe chain-smoking issue and was also said to be a “serial womanizer” by his daughter Paula. During the pre-cable TV era, José’s reportings were treated as a bit of harmless fun rather than the manner in which people characterize fake news in today’s world.
José de Zer Pioneered a Wave of UFO Obsession in 1986
While working in Villa Carlos Paz in 1986, José de Zer came across a tabloid report about a burnt pasture near the Uritorco mountains in Córdoba, a news story that would later become the site of one of the most famous episodes in his career. Although covering outrageous cases was not unfamiliar to José, his star took on a different level after he fabricated a report about a UFO landing site using the burnt pasture as his starting point. Even with no strong evidence, José managed to produce rolling footage of UFO hauntings by presenting eerie findings like burnt insects, strange lights in the sky, and hieroglyphs in caves.
The story became a sensational piece of media coverage, leading to a spike in viewership numbers for Nuevediario. However, years later, his discoveries were completely debunked after the footage was found to be faked. For one, the burnt insects in the recordings were planted by José, the hieroglyphs on the cave walls were painted by him in his hotel room, and the lights in the videos were nothing more than cigarettes or flashlights. Still, the viewership numbers were a testament to how well the material resonated with the audience at the time. Even tourism boomed in the area, and José became a bit of a local hero.
José de Zer Continued His Journalistic Work Before Passing Away in 1997
Following his success with the UFO sighting story, José de Zer stayed in touch with his journalistic work, often alternating between his more conspiratorial stories and more grounded daily events. In 1989, he provided coverage of the attack on the La Tablada military compound after a guerilla warfare group tried to capture an army base in the Bueno Aires province. He also interviewed Carlos Monzón, the boxing champion who was imprisoned for the murder of his wife Alicia Muñiz in 1988. He left Nuevediario in 1994, just as the rest of the Argentine TV news aesthetic started adopting the chaotic and found footage style narration popularized by him during his long career. On April 2, 1997, José passed away at the age of 56. The reporter had Parkinson’s disease and esophagus cancer.
Read More: Is Netflix’s The Man Who Loved UFOs Based on a True Story?
