Contact: A Study of the Relationship Between Science and Religion (very mild spoiler inside)

Rating: 9/10 (29 May 2020)

When I say "sci-fi", you probably think of something like Star Wars, Star Trek, or maybe the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Galaxy Quest, Alien, Pixels, to name a few more. These movies and more are entertaining action movies, some funny, some scary. But Contact is a different kind of science fiction: the quiet, thought-provoking kind that filled the '80s and '90s. This type is more along the lines of, say, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Deep Impact, or Close Encounters of the Third Kind (all great movies, by the way).
Plot: Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster), having spent her whole life searching for signs of alien life via radio waves, finally finds radio and television transmissions coming from the star Vega. Using instructions hidden in the transmissions, Earth begins to prepare to, ahem, Contact their new neighbors.
Nowadays, this would be considered an unconventional science fiction film. There's no action to speak of, the aliens are never seen, and it's not even funny at all. Even special effects are somewhat minimal, only noticeably existing in a sequence near the end and one other scene. The thing that makes Contact great is how it leans fully into the philosophical nature of classic science fiction made famous by things like the original Star Trek or Close Encounters. This is not a film about aliens. It is about the religious implications of the discovery of alien life; it's about faith versus facts. These are the bases of religion and science, respectively. Contact is about the differences between science and religion, and introduces an instance where one must rely on the other. The end of the film is interesting in how it is left rather open-ended. (MILD SPOILER ALERT, SORRY) Viewers are left to decide whether the special effects-laden sequence at the end actually happened, and either explanation seems equally probable, so different people may interpret the story differently. Eleanor finds herself choosing to believe she saw what she did solely based on faith, even though she has no evidence of any kind and even admits that what she saw may have just been a dream.
I'm terrible at conclusions, so I'll just repeat my point: Contact is great because of how it works with the concepts of science and religion and forces the former to rely on the primary basis of the latter. I highly recommend this film.