Contact Review
by Michael Redman (mredman AT bvoice DOT com)July 21st, 1997
Contact
A Film Review By Michael Redman
Copyright 1997 Michael Redman
**** (out of ****)
Amazing, absolutely amazing.
There are many times during this film that are remarkably stunning and completely captivating. For the first time in what seems to be eons, that statement applies to something other than the effects in a big budget science fiction movie. What a relief it is to be fascinated by a film of this genre with the plot and characters and where the aliens and explosions take a back seat to the right stuff.
Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is nine years old when she is fascinated by the stars and by contacting people in far-away places with her ham radio. As she grows older, she devotes her life to looking for messages from even more distant locales and joins the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project. Convinced that there is someone out there, she spends her time listening to static, hoping for something more.
While waiting for the signal in Puerto Rico, she has time to fall into bed for a brief affair with religious philosopher Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), a "man of the cloth without the cloth". The contrast between the woman of science and the man of god is the archetype for the film's theme.
When the financial rug is pulled out from under SETI, Arroway searches for funding wherever she can find it. She strikes gold with eccentric zillionaire S. R. Hadden (played with gusto by John Hurt). With his money in her back pocket, she rents time on the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico and years later finally hears what she has been waiting for.
Of course when she announces her discovery, there is a rush by the government to militarize the undertaking and take control. Suddenly the scientist finds herself playing second fiddle to the National Security Advisor (James Woods) and her former mentor David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt) who had pulled the plug on SETI in Puerto Rico.
Deciphering the message from Vega reveals a video signal. (I kept waiting for them to find a new tofu recipe from the Vegans) Piggybacked on the television waves is a blueprint for a transport device for one person to take the trip to the source of the communication. The question becomes who will go.
At a congressional hearing, Joss, who has become a White House spiritual leader, asks the litmus test "Do you believe in God?" Arroway's response is that she hasn't seen proof.
The film is more about that question of faith than it is about aliens. The astronomer's obsessive conviction that life exists somewhere else is not much different from religious certitude. When she has a life-changing experience that she can't explain and has no substantiation for, it reminds us of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus.
Director Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump") has taken Carl Sagan's novel and borrowed the motifs from "2001" and "Close Encounters" to create one of the finest films around.
He often focuses on media. In one scene Arroway is sending email while talking on the phone and simultaneously receiving a fax: totally wired. Jay Leno, Larry King, Bryant Gumbel and half the CNN crew play themselves on television screens throughout the film. This technique creates the feel that you are watching events as they are actually happening. Unfortunately the couple of morphed-in Bill Clinton scenes pull you out of the story with an "Oh yeah, this is a trick".
Jodie Foster has matured into an accomplished actress. Her superb performance captures the astronomer's emotions with subtle notes. The catch in her voice and breathing flutters when she is frightened are fine touches.
The movie's ending is a bit frightening. There is a strong possibility that Zemeckis will blow it with a sugary sweet scene and it looks like he will. Then there is the relief that he hasn't and all is back on track.
The film is long at two hours and 20 minutes, but surprisingly doesn't feel strained and could have even taken more time to explore all the implications. Leaving the theater, the audience was talking about the questions posed: a good sign.
As Carl Sagan said about the possibility of life out there, "If it's just us, that seems like an awful waste of space."
(Michael Redman has written this column for over 21 years and has spent about twice that long looking up and waiting.)
[This appeared in the 7/10/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at [email protected] ]
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