Ben's Vortex

I thought this was a well done film that tried its best to show all sides of a complex story. Our family watched it together, and we were all riveted to the twists and turns in the case, as well as the beautiful underwater footage. As for the reviewer who claims that only fans of Jill Heinerth would give positive reviews, I'd have to counter that he must be a friend of Ben's family in order to feel the need to belittle anyone who enjoyed the film. I am not a cave diver nor a fan of Heinerth; and I didn't come to the story with any preconceived ideas. There were absolutely no problems with poor quality production or sound problems either. This was a great film that tried its best to give an accurate, unbiased and interesting account. I consider it well worth the money spent.

I just finished watching my copy of Ben's Vortex. It is a compelling story for sure. I have to think that those who have spoken badly of this video have a personal interest in the story. I can see why some of the information would be disturbing to a grieving family. Personally I am glad that the makers of the video did not sugar coat the facts in order to please people. There are things in the movie that certainly will not be pleasing to Ben's family. There are also things that the cave diving community (which I am a part of) are not thrilled with in this video. To me, it is a good sign that a documentary about a mysterious case ticks everybody off. It means the film doesn't pander to one side or the other. There were no quality issues with my video whatsoever. The underwater shots are superb. It is a compelling story and I am sorry for the family and all those who have been affected by Ben's disappearance.

I was looking forward to Jill Heinerth's documentary Ben's Vortex from the first day I've heard about it. Today it arrived, I unpacked it, threw it into my BD player and the first thing I saw was a home made "dvd menu" with a software related project title on top and I took it out because I thought it was a sample. The positive reviews you will read are most likely from Fans of Jill Heinerth and I guess it is like someone is a huge fan of an actor. No matter what they do it will always be "awesome". When I looked at it, I looked at it as someone who has worked in both TV and Movie industry and my review is not good. This production is 90 minutes filled with strange interviews, badly filmed footage above water, some really good under water shots but they keep repeating and repeating and repeating and at one point even those good shots get really boring. The interviews are mostly unrelated and basically just randomly filmed and glued together. They person who filmed the interviews had no idea of rule of thirds, angles or movements, lenses, depth of field, how to film free hand or where to find a tripod and clearly this whole project was totally unscripted. I've seen unscripted projects before that went well. This one didn't. They should have never released it that way. The quality of the production is not subjective. It is below any quality standard in regards to authorizing, editing, filming and planning and it gives you no revelation whatsoever. Jill Heinerth is an awesome diver and an acceptable underwater cinematographer but from a professional point of view, this production is so full of flaws that it hurts my eyes. The DVD is one of the cheapest productions I've ever seen. The picture quality is so far below standard that it looks like a youtube video. Cleary the wrong codec during the editing was chosen. There is not one line or curve that doesn't pixel. The sound clips and hisses most of the time. Color correction seems to be a foreign word and artifacts from really bad encoding pop up all over the screen all the time. What I don't understand here is, if she has a good idea for such a documentary, why doesn't she get professionals to do the "above water shots" and editing. My wife and I both worked in the industry and are still producing Music Videos and we would never dare to release something with a quality like this. I would accept a production value like this from a free youtube video but not from a $17 DVD. The documentary is filled with some facts and a lot of weird and really badly filmed B-Roll shots. Clearly the person who filmed those B-Rolls had no idea what to do, at least above water. Bottom line is that I am massively disappointed and I never regretted so much wasting $17.

Sensationalism at it's best. The cave diving filming is deceptive. The gorgeous stalagmites are not in Florida caves. Those shots are in Mexico or Bahamas. It is deceptive to make people believe that Ben went in to see this magnitude of beauty that simply is not there. .

It was a good film. It had an interrsting story. I saw the episode about Ben on the show Disappeared, which led me to this film. I'm glad I rented it.

Just watched the film for the first time after following the story through the news and am even more fascinated by the story. The movie is well put-together and seems well-researched; the fact that there is open discussion about the different possibilities makes it so intriguing. I really appreciate the integrity of the film makers; even as a non-scuba person, the explanations of more technical aspects of the story are clearly explained along the way. I was drawn in by the "if this, then that" thought process that is elaborated upon by the film makers; I recommend this film to anyone with interest in the story, in cave diving, or just in mysteries in general.

Robert and Jill did a fantastic job with this fim. Even non cave divers (my wife) really thought that it was a compelling story and it provoked very good discussion on some of the notifications she would initiate if I was overdue. Some of the restrictions that Paul was filmed going through were really sick. I enjoyed Kevin's point of view as one of the members of the search team. I would have really liked to here Mat's perspective but I know he declined to be interviewed. Beautifully shot, well edited and a compelling mystery what more could you want in a dive documentary.

I became very interested in this mystery following a documentary on UK tv last month. I wanted to get this version of events to try and make sense of Ben disappearance. I was impressed with the underwater footage of this film yet it still doesn't bring any closure to this nightmare that Ben's family have been going through. I would really appreciate any other recommended documentaries made about this unsolved mystery that are available. Thank you. My thoughts and prayers are with Ben,his family and friends. God bless.