reverse witch-hunt

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2002)

Is there any other contemporary movie that has as much disdain and contempt for religion than "Contact"? Without exception every Christian character in this movie is portrayed as a caricature---narrow minded, bigoted, arrogant, even murderous in their attempts to stop science in its march. Even the main religious character, Palmer, is a cipher. He's more of a philosopher who believes in God but the movie carefully does not align him with any particular faith.
The anti-religion tone of the movie spoiled it for me. Ellie Arroway is set up as a sort of modern-day Galileo and the Christians try to get her to recant her belief in her worm-hole experience. Of course in the end Ellie has nothing but her faith in the experience to "prove" that it happened. But of course what she doesn't know is that there is some physical proof of her experience---but the believers and the government have hidden it from her and the public.
But this has to be expected from anything from Carl Sagan. Sagan could barely contain his disdain for religious faith during his life. He may be thinking differently now though.