A genuine masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2005)

Possible spoilers! Although I believe nothing can spoil the joy of something so great!
First, to all of you screaming: HOW COULD ALIENS BE STOPPED BY A SIMPLE WOODEN DOOR?!!!, WHAT ABOUT THE AIR HUMIDITY?!!, ETC.... - People, what's wrong with you, do you really accept this movie as an ALIENS-INVASION-SCI-FI crap. This movie's got nothing to do with aliens. What is more it is amazing how a movie can be based on the ALIENS-ARE-COMING-TO-KILL-US-ALL-AND-EVERYTHING'S-GOING-TO-HELL cliché and still be a real masterpiece. 'cos nowadays what else do we have got left to use but clichés. But only a genius can arrange the old clichés and recycle the past in order to produce something interesting. The aliens are simply a symbol of what exceeds human capacity for understanding, a symbol of anything supernatural or beyond. Anything else could be used successfully instead of aliens as long as it was supernatural enough. THE ALIENS is fine by me. It's absolutely unimportant. Have you heard the saying (a Chinese one, I believe): "I was pointing at the stars but they were looking at my finger." - interesting one, don't you find? You're missing the point guys.
And now, on the comment (you distracted me, you)
I'm a bit late I guess. Anyway this one will turn into a classic and it's never late to write about classics.
I missed it when it was on at the theaters. When I came across this title a few months ago I was drawn by the Indian (I'm always fascinated by anything Indian) name of the director/writer but when I read the review on the back cover some doubts occurred due to the sci-fi hint as I'm not that much into the genre in general; I consider it neither science nor fiction. However the very first scene captured me and it was clear there was something about that movie; and when it was over I merely stood there in awe and I still do.
Since I'm too hard to please (huge fan of such films as Terry Gilliam's, Antonioni's "Blow-up" - one of my all-time favorites and obviously one that "Signs" can be related to in a way, and a few more) I haven't seen a great (nor even a decent) movie for many years (except for some sparks like "American Beauty", "Lost in Translation" and stuff); and then it came.
As I understand it (I've seen it twice) this is a work about truth being revealed step by step through "signs of things and signs of signs" as Umberto Eco put it in "The Name of the Rose". And one more quotation: "A great work of art always reveals more than its author consciously intended to say. (Albert Camus, "The Myth of Sisyphus"). So in my opinion what we deal with is an existential or metaphysical (why not call it) work about people seeking clearness about what they are surrounded with. Since humans tend to let themselves be carried by inertia one starts "reading" the signs mostly when they are forced to. Only under extreme circumstances one finds it necessary to think about "important" stuff. Ultimate situations require ultimate measures but ultimate measures definitely take ultimate thinking. But I believe works like this movie make us think from time to time even in the stream of everyday things. Last quotation (I promise): "Wherever you look there is something to see." (A Hebrew saying, from the Talmud I believe.)