Subject: Review: Contact (1997)

From: [email-masked] (Homer Yen)
Date: 14 Jul 1997 22:58:39 GMT

CONTACT: Some Signs of Intelligent Life

By Homer Yen
(c) 1997

Jodie Foster plays Ellie Arroway, a prominent scientist and radio   
astronomer for the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)   
program.  Like many scientists, she is an analytical person whose beliefs   
are entrenched in empirical evidence and testing.  For her, science shows   
us what is and what is not.  For example, she doesn't believe in God,   
because he can not be proven to exist.  Dr. Arroway is particularly   
isolated from the world around her.  She is consumed with one interest,   
which is the possibility of finding intelligent life on another planet.   
 Her academic mentors and colleagues belittle her.  Grant money to   
continue her research is increasingly hard to come by.

Yet she persists in her obsession, listening and monitoring and hoping   
until one day the payoff comes.   Working first at Puerto Rico's Arecibo   
observatory, budget cuts force her to relocate to the Very Large Array   
(VLA) of radio telescopes in the remote desert of New Mexico.  It is   
there, along with an ad-hoc team of devoted colleagues, that she detects   
a signal from the Vega system, some 26 light years away, that was clearly   
transmitted by an alien intelligence.  With the backing of the enigmatic   
industrialist, S.R. Hadden (John Hurt), she will begin a quest that   
culminates in the construction of a mysterious machine based on alien   
blueprints, and embark on a one-woman journey that will have the most   
profound scientific and spiritual implications for all humankind and   
especially for her.

Adapted from Carl Sagan's 1985 novel, this piece of science-pseudo   
fiction concerns itself with the discovery of extraterrestrial   
intelligence, but its focus subsequently becomes a debate between   
sanctity and science and Ellie's pursuit of her own brand of truth and   
her trip down the path of enlightenment.

Her quest is hampered by two major obstacles, though. She is faced with a   
lack of scientific thinking from politicians, who are wary of national   
security issues.  Confronted by a paranoid National Security Advisor   
(James Woods), Arroway's glory-hogging scientific rival (Tom Skerritt),   
and a cynical Presidential Advisor (Angela Bassett), Dr. Arroway fights   
hard to maintain her presence on this ˜ the most important project of her   
career.  The story also sets Dr. Arroway in philosophical opposition to   
famous spiritual leader and advisor (and pseudo-romantic interest),   
Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey).  He tries to be her spiritual guide   
and warns her of the implications of making possible contact with a new   
race when she does not embody the precepts of God and His scriptures.  If   
there's life out there, way out there, does it come thanks to Science or   
Him?  It's an interesting question, but if  philosophers, scientists and   
theologians have been debating this question over the past 1000 years and   
are still unclear, a movie that attempts to look at the same question   
will suffer from ambiguity.

Despite a generally poignant look at Foster's journey into space and   
herself, I can't say that I liked this movie, but I didn't dislike it   
either.  Contact, results in a sobering look at a debate as partisan as   
abortion or the death penalty.  The space ride is just to appease the   
summer audience who demand to see special effects.  The entire movie   
seems like it could have been 20 minutes shorter if not for all of the   
flashbacks and the multitude of shots where Dr. Arroway is pondering and   
staring and pondering and then staring some more.  But, I did admire the   
genuine acting ability of Foster, who shows amazing depth and   
intelligence. Contact taps into her capacity to show both strength and   
vulnerability, pensive maturity and doe-eyed girlishness.  Time and   
again, the camera captures Foster face striking subtle emotions as she   
ponders all of the ramifications of her discovery and her subsequent   
actions.  There is probably no one better for this kind of high-minded,   
emotional drama than Foster.  I also admired the director's attempt   
(Robert Zemeckis) to blend purposeful storytelling with the movie's lofty   
goals (but his attempt to digitally meld Clinton into scenes a la Forrest   
Gump seemed patchwork).  Are science and religion equally purposeful   
methods of seeking reason and truth in a chaotic world?  This is a tough   
question to answer, but is bravely explored in this tale.  And, her path   
towards her particular enlightenment came to a satisfying conclusion.

Contact really puts the 'science' in science-fiction.  It is a big,   
ambitious movie that spans the heavens and debates God and hard science   
in the same breath.  Certainly, this movie will not appeal to everyone   
but to those who enjoy their movies with a pinch of philosophy, you'll   
find lots to think about.  It didn't necessarily appeal to me , but it   
did make me go , "Hmmmm…"

Grade: B-