The Nothingness of Netflix New Docuseries MH370: The Plane That Disappeared

Maria Jesus Martinez

Released on March 8, the Netflix docuseries directed by Louise Malkinson “MH370: The Plane That Disappeared” consists of a thorough revision of the event regarding the Malaysia Airline plane MH370.

It all started on the night of March 7, 2014 when the Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur to land in Beijing. The jet was supposed to arrivesafely with 239 passengers at the Chinese airport around 6:30 a.m on March 8, but suddenly the plane disappeared from the radar and did not make it to its destination. It simply vanished without a trace.

From that moment on, the Malaysian Airlines directors, Malaysian government and 26 countries including Australia, China, Vietnam and the United States went searching for the plane and the passengers. Some discoveries were made along the way like the findings of some debris pieces of the jet on the coast of Madagascar, Reunion Island and Tanzania, but no one was able to find the plane nor the definite reason behind its disappearance.

The docuseries depicts the authority’s frustrated search for the plane and the increasing anger and sadness of the passengers’ loved ones for lack of answers along with the spread of theories and conspiracies. According to Netflix’s website Tudum, the documentary “tries to uncover why the Malaysian Airlines plane vanished without a trace.” but they only review the chronicle of events that happened long ago by the media. 

Not only were the onlookers to the event left without answers, but were placed in a deep state of confusion. Did the pilot commit mass suicide? Was the plane hijacked by Russian citizens who hacked the electronic controls while on flight and controlled the transportation? Or was the fatal incident actually caused by two American airplanes? Did the plane land in the Indian Ocean or did it crash in the Kazakhstan Desert? Were the authorities telling the truth or hiding something? Does the journalist starring in the series have the truth, or is the truth in the hands of the aviation experts? Who has the truth? Those were all the questions that I had. 

The truth is out there, for sure. Netflix doesn’t provide it though because there’s so many theories that it’s hard to know which one to believe. Each episode is centered around one theory. Journalists Jeff Wise and Florence de Changy described them as “far-fetched” scenarios.

I felt that the suspenseful and ominous music composed for the series was actually parodying the theme as the docuseries was delving into nonsense narrative.

 The only thing I did like about the docuseries was how clear and specific the commentary was from the experts and authorities.

I think that this docuseries would have been more successful if the creators would have waited a few more years. Maybe until someone finally found the plane or had more solid information about it. For the lack of solid proof and its focus on borderline conspiracy theories, I would not recommend it to anybody.