Arrival

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2016)

It's usually a pleasure to find a "serious" science fiction film, because we know that it will try to make us think, and it might even teach us something about ourselves. You know... like real science fiction used to do before being usurped by the special effects. Arrival is one of those "serious" movies, and even though it offers various beautiful images and an impressive production design, the important thing isn't the spectacle, but the ideas it explores, the nature of the characters and the contrasting emotions provoked by the interplanetary "culture crash". In other words, Arrival is a vision of the "first contact" which places more emphasis on the human attitudes than the hypothetical extraterrestrial "conflict", obtaining a richness of shape and content I had rarely seen in this genre. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer took various common clichés of science fiction in order to rethink them in a format more consistent with the tone of the film; for example, the typical notion of the spaceships arriving at Earth is initially presented without showing those ships, because, during a while, we only see the reactions from the people, the media and, of course, the governments of the world. The whole cast of Arrival brings excellent performances; my favorite was the one from Forest Whitaker, who perfectly captures the internal strength of a sensible and pragmatic military who inflexibly sticks to the rules of the high command. Heisserer perfectly handles the fascinating central idea of the screenplay, until getting to an amazing twist, solidly unifying all the disparate elements of the tale... particularly a family tragedy in the main character's past, as well as the unavoidable romantic hints between the physicist and her. In this case, the romantic sub- plot is an integral part of the narrative, multiplying its emotional impact and accentuating the universal connection theme which leaves us with a bittersweet, but hugely satisfactory sensation, once the film ends. In summary: an extraordinary film which expresses epic science fiction in personal terms. Arthur C. Clarke would have been proud.