Subject: Review: Contact (1997)

From: [email-masked] (C.T.Nadovich)
Date: 28 Jul 1997 15:50:11 GMT

Note, the following contains spoilers and strong opinion about the
movie "Contact". You may want to see the film and form your own opinions
first.

= = =

Well, I never liked Carl Sagan's stuff.

I always thought he cream and sugared the science too much in an effort
to make it go down layman's throats.  To me, that ruins the flavor of
the science itself and distorts its message.  I've always preferred my
science black --- expresso black --- but there are things you can add to
science to make an interesting, more accessable combination without
overloading it with sweetness and light.  A shot of bourbon, for
instance, as I've been known to enjoy in the works of Gould, Thomas,
Dawkins, etc... 

"Contact" is a mocha latte with rum.  Worse than that, it uses the best
columbian coffee, finest Puerto Rican rum, fresh cream, and a whole
can of Hersey's chocolate syrup.

I say this so often about films: "It coulda' been so good!".  "Contact"
merits this same summary more so than any film in recent memory.  All
the best ingredients were there: profound scientific and philosophical
questions, world class actors, breathtaking scientific venues for
settings, big budget high tech special effects, a good variation on the
first-contact plot... 

But NO! They had to go and screw it up.  Oh, how I felt I had been
cheated! Worse yet, they had Jodie Foster do the wimp out --- yes, the
same Jodie Foster that had gone toe-to-toe with Hannibal Lechter without
blinking.  Why did they cast her?  Why couldn't they cast Jane Fonda?
That would have bothered me FAR less. 

Or maybe I missed the point.  Maybe her failure to stick to her
scientific and philosophic guns in the climactic scene of the film was
intended to get the audience to rally to her aid, to shout: "Aristotle!
Aristotle! Quick! Set 'em up with Aristotle.  Then BANG! Hume! Hume!
Give 'em a left with Hume! and then a right cross with Kant! Kick 'em in
the groin with Goedel!".

Or maybe we are assumed to already know the truth, survive the attack by
science-as-religion mumbo jumbo, and maturely accept the fact that the
good guy, vastly outnumbered, just didn't win in this story, being wiser
for the experience. 

But no. By Occam's Razor it was more likely that the film wanted to show how
Science and Religion can be a big happy mutually supporting mocha latte
family. 

It was awful.  The film made the point that Jodie Foster's character was
somehow embarrased and weakened by her atheism and scientific
rationalism.  That she was an athesist because her parents died young
and she was angry at God.  It wasn't possible that (gasp) she didn't
believe in God because there wasn't one! It reminded me of the
stereotypical view of homosexuality as a bad moral choice. 

It gets worse. 

After the climactic scene, the emphasized idea is that science is sort
of a revealed, mystical religion of its own.  Only individual scientists
understand scientific fact.  Scientific proof is ultimately based on
mystical revelation.  Science is no different than revealed faith
in God. 

In a brief, passing conversation after the climax thre was a ray of
hope.  We learn that there actually was a shred of objective empirical
evedence for the mystical revelation that the atheist and rationalist
scientist is forced to accept.  It could have been a Cinderella ending. 
Alas, the film dropped this point there.  No one went seeking the foot
that matched this glass slipper, so this objective evedence is portrayed
more like Santa's cane in "A Miracle on 34'th Street" --- we all believe
that Santa is real, and that's all that really matters, but hey, isn't
it neat that some bit of objective evedence fits in with our beliefs ---
not that we need any facts to justify our beliefs. 

-- 
Chris Nadovich                                    +1 215 257 8708 (voice)
http://www.jtan.com/chris                         +1 215 257 8154 (fax)
                             73 de KD3BJ SK ..

--
Chris Nadovich                                    +1 215 257 8708 (voice)
http://www.jtan.com/chris                         +1 215 257 8154 (fax)
                             73 de KD3BJ SK ..