Subject: Review: Contact (1997)

From: Tim Voon <[email-masked]>
Date: 18 Oct 1997 05:24:06 GMT

CONTACT 1997
                      A film review by Timothy Voon
                       Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
 4  :-) :-) :-) :-)  for the most thought provoking movie I've seen this
                                  year

Making contact with an alien race doesn't come as easily as "E.T. phone
home" anymore. This reflective movie directed by Robert Zemeckis and
starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, prods the human skull
with a radar dish full of science and religion. Ever looked up at the
night sky and wondered to yourself, quote "What a great waste of space"?
Well it is, and this movie attempts to give some meaning to those
pondering whether man is truly alone in the universe.

Behind every motive lies an underlying reason, which drives a heroine to
become great. In the case of the Scientist (Foster), the search for the
meaning of her existence is the same as her quest to find her dead
parents. The orphan, whose fascination with the universe begins with a
low frequency radio and telescope, sets out to reach the furthest stars,
in the furthest galaxies, to confirm what man has always feared or
fantasised. She listens and watches from dusk till dawn, for a sign, a
message that carries with it the same vain hope of a child wishing her
parents would return from the grave. Patience is a product of time, not
relativity, and the patient Scientist is rewarded with a signal from
Vega.

To every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction - not so.
For every agnostic scientist there lies in wait a thousand religious
gnostics. Representing the unbalanced proportion of this equation of
beliefs, is the Reverend (McConaughey). Can God and Science coexist?
Does placing faith in one necessarily rule out the existence of the
other? There are two sides to this search for the truth, but enough room
for both sides to come out smiling. After all, the universe is a big,
big place.

E=MC2. Extra-terrestrial = making contact twice. If you receive a
message from an alien, it is only polite to reply. Close to a trillion
dollars is spent on an amusing looking gadget reminiscent of the nucleus
of an atom. Drop a small pod in the centre of revolving twirling rings,
and leave the rest to speculation and imagination. I had a good laugh
when I first saw the contraption. "That thing is not taking anyone
anywhere", I said aloud, but perhaps to a hospital bed with a fracture
or two.

The Quest to make first contact, gets as political as politicians on
heat. The Scientist stands by her belief that there is no God, in front
of an international selection committee. Her application to be earth's
messenger to the stars is rejected. However, the right hand of religion
which strikes her cheek, also carries a fanatical left, which ironically
allows her to journey where no man has gone before.

The Scientist returns without an incredulous story of space and time
travel. She has only a sense of wonder, and feelings of a glorious
encounter of the millennium kind to share with others. An international
enquiry is assembled to judge her story, but brushes aside the truth as
a mere figment of her imagination. At this moment, the Scientist
realises that she is asking others to believe her words on faith alone,
a concept which is as foreign as believing in God; and those who have no
qualms about believing in a supreme being, are unable to believe the
tale of her miraculous journey.

So in this meeting place, Science asks Religion to Believe, but
ironically Religion turns her face. So my longwinded after thought is
that perhaps if the Science had more faith in God, and Religion had more
faith in Science, there may be harmony on the third rock from the Sun.

Exceptionally thought-provoking material, splendidly directed, and
visually sensational. Well done.

Timothy Voon
e-mail: [email-masked]