Contact Review
by Scott Renshaw (srenshaw AT leland DOT Stanford DOT EDU)July 9th, 1997
CONTACT
(Warner Bros.)
Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConnaughey, James Woods, Angela Bassett.
Screenplay: Michael Goldenberg and James V. Hart, based on the novel by Carl Sagan.
Producers: Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey, Doug Mitchell. Director: Robert Zemeckis.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (adult themes, profanity)
Running Time: 145 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Director Robert Zemeckis may have won an Academy Award and a place on the all-time box office Top Ten list with 1994's FORREST GUMP, but he certainly didn't win many friends among the intelligentsia. While most of America was captivated by Forrest's adventures and home-spun homilies, others challenged the anti-intellectual idea of a slow-witted hero as a model for right living. The former saw the film as a vindication of simple decency; the latter saw the emphasis on "simple."
If nothing else, you've got to hand it to Zemeckis for his willingness to be an equal-opportunity offender. It's quite a philosophical hike from "Stupid is as stupid does" to the weighty mathematical and metaphysical musings of Carl Sagan's CONTACT, one which treads on dangerous ground in the exploration of the existence of God, the nature of the universe and humanity's place in that universe. That's an impressive enough challenge, but it's even more impressive that Zemeckis manages to craft those ideas into a satisfying entertainment.
The story focuses on radio astronomer Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), who has harbored a life-long fascination with the possible existence of extra-terrestrial life. After years of frustration culminating in axed funding by the NSF, Ellie finds a patron in eccentric industrialist S. R. Hadden (John Hurt) to continue her research. And eventually that research pays off, as Ellie discovers a radio signal from deep space which shows undeniable signs of intelligent origin. Further, the message appears to contain instruction for the construction of some kind of device, which may turn out to be a transport to the distant star Vega.
Ordinarily you would expect the narrative to proceed at that point to the inevitable clash with nasty military/governmental types of the faceless Spielbergian variety. CONTACT, however, offers only the faintest nod to that angle in the person of suspicious, officious National Security Advisor Michael Kitz (James Woods). This story has bigger fish to fry, using the bulk of its two and a half hours to examine how humanity reacts to the idea of life beyond our world. While the scientific community delights in the extraordinary discovery, people of faith find their world-view shaken to its foundations. Some spiritual leaders, like author/philosopher Palmer Joss (Matthew McConnaughey) try to find a reconciliation between the alien message and the divine message; other more zealous parties are unwilling even to try. With Foster's Ellie acting as the story's determined but conflicted anchor, the variety of responses to the alien message makes CONTACT's second act consistently intriguing and -- in the case of the carnival atmosphere which springs up around the Very Large Array facility in New Mexico -- amusing as well.
With such complex material at its philosophical core, the actual close encounter is bound to be something of a disappointment. Cribbing a bit from 2001 here and a bit from STAR TREK there, CONTACT sends Ellie to an inter-galactic rendezvous which seems more appropriate for a T.V. movie than a quest for existential truth. It's even more unfortunate that Zemeckis and his screenwriting team deep-six Sagan's most challenging notion, a mathematical "proof" of the existence of God. The film's Ellie Arroway doesn't come to any such understanding of an ordered, scientifically logical universe with a God at its center. Instead, she experiences a life-changing encounter with the infinite which is both more acceptably fuzzy (she is forced to acknowledge a purpose for faith) and more heretical (her meeting with the Vegan _is_ her encounter with God).
The latter is the exactly the kind of notion -- along with a rather unflattering portrait of a Ralph Reed-esque "Conservative Coalition" head (played without the faintest hint of ambiguity by Rob Lowe) -- which could send people of a certain ideological bent grumbling for the doors. To Zemeckis' credit, the one-time maker of inoffensive pop doo-dads like ROMANCING THE STONE and BACK TO THE FUTURE now seems willing to send everyone grumbling for the doors every once in a while.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 contact highs: 7.
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