Out of Shadows

Stuntmen are, in essence, illusionists—presenting actions on-screen “that appear to be dangerous, risky, or even deadly” and often serving as doubles for famous actors. In his 82-minute, 2020 documentary Out of Shadows, filmmaker and former top stuntman Mike Smith takes an in-depth look at the deeper illusion that is Hollywood itself.

Smith and fellow stuntman Brad Martin provide much of the film’s narration, describing the opportunities presented by their profession to observe—and ultimately to question—Hollywood’s “back story” and propaganda purposes. As Martin puts it, whether the public realizes it or not, there is “an agenda in every movie.” Smith wryly comments, “The only thing we consume more of than content is air. But we actually think about the quality of the air we breathe.”

Early on, Smith pointedly dissects the words “entertainment” (one meaning of which is “to keep, hold, or maintain in the mind”), “television” (= tell-a-vision), TV “programming,” and the associations of the holly tree with ancient Druids’ practice of magic and spellcasting. Nor does he shy away from describing the spiritual cost of fame and his own spiritual awakening. That awakening started after he experienced a catastrophic, stunt-related lower back injury in 2014. When a physical therapist prayed over him and opened his eyes to some of the darker realities he had been ignoring, he realized, with some chagrin, that Hollywood had successfully “fooled” him.

For those who have studied mind control and its history to any extent, some of the film’s revelations—about the early forging of a military-entertainment complex, Allen Dulles’ connection with “007” progenitor Ian Fleming, Operations Paperclip and Mockingbird, MKUltra, or pedophilia—may not be new, but Smith’s montage packs a powerful punch. Former CIA agent and author Kevin Shipp also intelligently chimes in on the agency’s hidden hand in Hollywood and its history as both a tool of psychological warfare and an instrument of desensitization. Shipp’s observations about the CIA’s Entertainment Industry Liaison (part of its Office of Public Affairs) or the agency’s role in helping Disney buy the swampland that became Florida’s Disney World furnish additional spice.

When Out of Shadows first posted on YouTube in April 2020, it attracted over a million views within the first 24 hours. Smith has since made a sequel that dives further into psychological warfare, titled Into the Light. Both can be viewed at the Into the Light website, or Out of Shadows can be viewed here.