Subject: Review: Contact (1997)

From: Marty Mapes <[email-masked]>
Date: 27 Jul 1997 15:56:53 GMT

Contact
A film review by Marty Mapes
Copyright 1997 Marty Mapes

***1/2 (out of 4) Jodie Foster is great, and Zemeckis knows how to use
film technology without compromising a story's humanity, but the real
star of CONTACT is its author, Carl Sagan. 

CONTACT is a smart movie. It is a science fiction movie without being an
action movie. Instead of laser blasts, chases and grunting, it offers
questions, dilemmas, and discussion. It is science fiction from the
perspective of a scientist, not from that of a studio with too much
money and gunpowder. 

Foster plays Ellie Arroway, a Sagan-like scientist working for SETI (the
Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). Faced with a government
bureaucracy unwilling to pay for pure research, it is Ellie's
determination alone that keeps her in her job. 

Her determination pays off when she hears a repeating signal coming from
a nearby star. As Ellie starts decoding the cryptic message, the world
watches, frets, and prays. As the message becomes clearer and clearer to
Ellie, the world's reaction becomes more and more muddled. Ellie learns
that the message is a blueprint for a kind of spaceship, while humanity
argues over the aliens' intentions, legitimacy, and divinity. 

The blueprints are ultimately realized through the funding of a
worldwide coalition of nations, and a representative is chosen to be the
first ambassador to our new neighbors. 

Contact is a great tribute to Sagan. Ellie has all of Sagan's curiosity,
morality, and rationality. She repeats a probabilistic argument for the
existence of extraterrestrial intelligence that Sagan used in his
COSMOS. Ellie is a rational athiest who's interested in religious
discussion, like Sagan. And when she says "billion" you can almost hear
his voice.  

Beyond the character of Ellie, the movie itself honors Sagan. It asks
relevant questions about religion and science without taking sides, it
recognizes the humanity of even the bad guys (though James Woods'
portrayal was a little prickly). Most of all, it values human curiosity
— that inexplicable force that makes scientists like Ellie and Sagan so
determined. 

Zemeckis proves his ability right from the start. The opening shot of
the movie is absolutely beautiful, and the richly layered soundtrack
gives meaning to that beauty (kudos to supervising sound editor Phil
Benson). The second sequence of shots foreshadows Ellie's future: young
Ellie makes radio contact with distant life forms from a thousand miles
away. 

Zemeckis doesn't condescend to his audience; he gives us credit for
being able to understand science and to appreciate the discussion of
religion. Even in such mundane tasks as introducing characters, Zemeckis
does not insult our intelligence. A blind man is introduced without
anyone saying "Meet Fisher, he's blind;" a reclusive benefactor is
revealed with a glance, not a grand, James Bond-like introduction. 

Finally, Zemeckis and editor Arthur Schmidt really heap on the tension
when, toward the end, our ambassador is ready to be sent. Lately, movie
tension has been less than subtle: consider the bus-over-the-cliff scene
in THE LOST WORLD or the paranoia of homocidal prisoners in CON AIR. In
CONTACT, the tension is just as taut, but more complex. There is a
chance for death, but other factors gnaw at the characters and at the
audience: the anticipation of meeting an alien race, the uncertainty of
using technology we don't understand, the fear of aborting a mission so
close to comletion. 

Still, all of this talent could have been spent on a less deserving
story. It is a tribute to the producers (other than Sagan and Ann
Druyan, his wife) and Zemeckis that they took a chance on a smart, human
science fiction movie, instead of buying explosions and space battles.

(c) 1997 Marty Mapes
Check out more current movie reviews at http://www.indra.com/~mmapes/