Fascinating Concept

Rating: 9/10 (12 November 2016)

I'll be straight out and say not to expect your typical alien invasion movie because the Arrival isn't. In fact it isn't your typical science fiction movie, or at least what we have come to expect from Hollywood these days. Instead of some action extravaganza with some rip roaring special effects, we have what is more of a drama with an ending that is quite interesting in its execution. Mind you, if you don't like straight out science fiction and prefer aliens running around with machine guns and huge battles in space then you are going to be sorely disappointed with this film. However, if you are looking for some form of speculative science fiction in the realm of what the genre was originally meant to be then you are going to be fascinated by this film, and the concepts behind the film are definitely fascinating.
As you are probably already aware the film is about a bunch of aliens who have arrived on Earth and the whole idea behind the film is for the protagonists to try and find out the purpose of the alien's visit. It becomes apparent at the end of the film, but the key thing comes down to learning to communicate with them, and this is what the film is all about – humans learning to communicate with aliens through a language that they have had no experience with in the past and through a writing system that is so different it makes Chinese (and Egyptian) look like a walk in the park (at least compared to English).
The idea is that one's language defines one's culture, attitude, and mindset. This is one of the reasons that the alien's have visited Earth, namely to see if we are able to communicate with them. Obviously we are because, like most Hollywood Movies, it does have a happy ending. However I don't necessarily want to reveal what learning the language ends up doing namely because it is a key feature of the film. However the suggestion is that by immersing one self into a foreign language one begins to change one's outlook on life. Okay, this isn't necessarily something that I can attest to namely because the only two languages that I know (other than English) are German and French, and I have not spent enough time in either Germany or a Francophone country to truly become immersed in the language.
The film itself is actually quite slow, but in a way I feel that it is meant to be that way – the whole idea of trying to decipher an alien language, all the while trying to do it in such a way as to first of all not misinterpret what they are saying (it is a little different to saying 'I am a coffee' as opposed to 'I would like a coffee'). Also, there is your typical race against time because not everybody is as patient as the main characters in the film. However, as mentioned, everything eventually works out, especially when they managed to translate what is in effect an incredibly complex language. However, as I have almost mentioned, this film is about language, and explores the complexity of it, and what effect knowing other languages have upon your outlook in life. Obviously, with a science-fiction film, it has what is in effect a science-fiction outlook. A good film if you life a thinking film, not so much if all you want to see are spaceships blowing up.