The only truly universal language is mathematics!

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2015)

I remember the book being so well written and such a great story, but... with a slightly disappointing ending. I can imagine Carl Sagan thinking up the story and how it develops, and then wondering... "How the heck am I going to end this".
Turning the book into a movie was a great effort and they have captured all the drama and issues and done such a great job on the writing and production parts. The ending is still a bit disappointing, but I can cope with that. The conflict between science and religious stupidity is just so "American", and it seems that nothing much has changed in the years that followed.
I am particularly impressed with the Clinton sections, (even though the movie is set in 1988 and he wasn't Pres then). It shows just what can be done at the Weta workshops, they have taken archive footage, got someone to imitate the voice, then digitally morphed the mouth to get it all synchronised. A great job. I would guess that even Bill is happy with the result.
The fact that my own view is that SETI is a waste of time doesn't alter my view of the movie. Other worlds? OK, possible, probable even, but it is not just intelligent life we want to know about, after all, the dinosaurs had some intelligence, so did Abraham, and Mozart, and Shakespeare, Edison et al. It is advanced intelligence we want, with radio telescopes and transmitters. We have had radio telescopes since about 1950, so that means that what I call the "window of opportunity", is only open about one millionth of its range, or even less, depending on how far back you want to go to say there was "intelligent life" present. Would anyone really go looking for something with their eyes open just a millionth?
But next week... there might be an amazing announcement. Here's hoping!