More than meets the eye.

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2019)

When Contact was released, a friend shared his opinion complaining that "there was no action and we never saw an alien". For some reason, maybe even that one, I didn't watched it then. Years later, another friend recommended it to me. By then I had read a couple of Sagan's books, and many of my ideas about religion and science had changed profoundly.
I saw CONTACT and began to understand that all that history of extraterrestrials coming into contact with humans was just one part of it or an excuse for the rest. At that point, by the way, the film remains somehow unresolved, and what bothered several people is nothing more than consistency in Carl Sagan's position of promoting science without contaminating it with whatever his personal opinion or 'belief' was. I still thank for it.
CONTACT was Sagan's only novel, and although the film, for understandable reasons such as avoiding too many characters or being longer than commercially acceptable, is not identical to the book, I think what mattered is still there. I understand that Sagan approved the film before he died and it probably wasn't just technical merits or performances but the main ideas remained.
CONTACT talks about human nature, the search for truth, loneliness, how feelings humanize us and how the most honest scientist can also fail in his objectivity when they (the feelings) get in the way. It also talks about intellectual honesty and what this can lead to. No concept there is a deep truth or out of reach and that's also something I like about it.
Eleanor Arroway is a great character and Jodie Foster is the perfect choice for playing it.
It's not a regular comercial film, but it's serious, it talks about us humans and can be enjoyed a lot, as I know. Very good.