Films Of The 90's: Contact

Rating: 10/10 (5 June 2006)

Contact (1997): Starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Angela Bassett, John Hurt, Rob Lowe, David Morse, Geoffrey Blake, William Fichtner, Sami Chester, Timothy McNeil, Tom Skerrit, Thomas Garner, Larry King, Max Martini, Dan Gifford, Michael Chaban, Vance Valencia, Donna J. Kelly, Leon Harris, Claire Shipman, Jay Leno, Natalie Allen, Jake Busey, Kathleen Kennedy, Jill Dougherty. Director Robert Zemeckis, Screenplay James V. Hart And Michael Goldenberg, Based On The Novel By Carl Sagan And Ann Druyan.
"You are an interesting species. You are capable of such beautiful dreams and such terrible nightmares"..........
"Contact" was a powerful film in 1997 that sadly, did not get enough Oscar attention, despite its genuinely brilliant acting by the entire cast, a great screenplay, thought-provoking, emotionally moving themes and stunning cinematography. The film is based on the Carl Sagan novel. Sagan died during the filming of the movie and did not live to complete the novel. Writer Ann Druyan who knew Carl Sagan personally finished the novel. Jodie Foster is delivering an Oscar-caliber performance in the role of Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway, the daughter of scientist and astronomer Ted Arroway (David Morse)who dies while Ellie is still young. Ellie receives signals from the distant star system of Vega, and is convinced there is alien life in the universe and furthermore is attempting to contact humans on earth. S.E.T.I. gets a hold of the same signals and relay the information to the U.S. government (this is the time of Bill Clinton's 2nd term as President). Clinton and world leaders and in fact the entire civilized world pay close attention as the signals are revealed to be blueprints for a transport machine. One special human being has to board the transport and make contact with the aliens. Matthew McConaughey portrays Palmer Joss, Ellie's love interest. McConaughey and Foster have interesting chemistry, though never at the mainstream Hollywood romance level and instead being a relationship in which, despite her purely scientific views and his more Christian science views, they respect one another as scientists and are bonded by their similar careers. Several cameos, including Larry King, Jay Leno, Angela Basset, John Hurt and Rob Lowe. There are several layers and themes to this poignant film. It is a chiefly agnostic film, as there are'not any absolute truths disclosed at the end of the film. Ellie experiences something powerful in the transport, but it's unclear whether she left the earth's atmosphere and traveled through outer space to other worlds, only to end up talking to her deceased father in a virtual island. The cameras surveying her mission reveal the engine fell into the water as a result of a malfunction and Ellie fainted and did not awaken until 18 hours later, raising the possibility she had hallucinated the whole experience. It looks at the nature of belief itself; belief in science, belief in alien life forms in the universe, belief in God, and the meaning of life in general. Ellie believes that the universe is too vast and full of solar systems which may contain life, believing that if there is only Earth it's as big waste. While we will never know the answers, Ellie tells a group of children on a school trip to an Observatory that the most important thing is to believe what one feels is his or her own truth. The special effects are absolutely amazing, especially in the scene where Ellie may or may not be traveling light years outside of the Earth. It even resembles "2001: A Space Odyssey" and in fact "Contact" takes its place along with that masterpiece of sci-fi cinema as equally powerful. Anyone who is interested in films with a human touch to science fiction, in which neither an atheistic or religious viewpoint is extoled, and instead focuses on the nature of belief itself and the journey of one smart, strong girl into space, or possibly into her own soul, is welcome to see this film. Jodie Foster is delivering one heck of a performance. She is vulnerable yet strong, wide-eyed, intelligent, beautiful and should have won an Oscar. Also, through the various cavalcade of music and images, this film is a kind of capsule of human civilization and document of movies of the 1990's. Like Ellie's father or a possible alien says, humans are capable of beautiful dreams and such terrible nightmares. Humans are capable of progress and a lot of good, as well as destruction and evil. In this world there have been Hitlers and Mother Teresas, love, understanding, tolerance as well as hatred, war and corruption. This film is possibly one of the most reflective movies about the human condition and the longing to reach out to the unknown, a sentiment as old as time. Whether there is a God out there or not, we have each other and far more important than faith is love and the spirit of a tolerant and peace-loving humanity however different we may be from one another.