brilliant, seminal, touching film

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 2003)

Contact was by and far cheated for any Oscar nominations in 1997.
The adaptation of Carl Sagan's novel of the same name masterfully slimmed plot lines and complexities from the book into a beautifully cut work of intellect and heart.
Jodie Foster, brilliant as always, works wonders as a freethinking astronomer searching for answers to her own life's meaning through seeking out intelligent life in the universe.
The rest of the cast create Sagan's biting (and in no way completely impartial) cross-section of political and religious forces opposing Foster's imposed heroine efforts. From Tom Skerrit's anti-villain Drumlin to Matt McConaughey's stellar Joss, to James Woods' scathingly funny Kitz and Angela Bassett's hotheaded White House staffer Constantine, everyone pulled their weight as an accurate representation of how the modern world would respond to such a thought-provoking event in history.
Summed up, Contact is a debate on science versus faith that encompasses nearly every nuance of every shell on the topic, from religious viewpoints to scientific standards, to the very message the film tries to deliver: that "in all our searching, the only thing we found to make the emptiness bearable is each other."
See this movie if you want to cry with comfort that you are not alone.