Movie Review by Bill Rendall

Contact

Are we alone? Contact begins with a flashback to when the central character is a young girl (Jena Malone) and is left on her own by the death of her parents. This drives the adult character (Jodie Foster) to discover if we are alone as the only intelligent lifeform in the universe.

Contact opens in grand style with a stunning zoom out. The view originates at the Earth and pulls out of the solar system into deep space. This is accompanied by sound bytes of radio transmissions from Earth.

The movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis who previously directed Forrest Gump. Zemeckis repeats his trick of digitally manipulating video footage of presidents, this time featuring Bill Clinton. The music score is a little reminiscent of Forrest Gump as it is again provided by Alan Silvestri.

A central theme of Contact is faith. Foster maintains faith that the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project is worth pursuing despite the doubts of those controlling the funding.

After making contact a huge leap of faith is required to build and use a transportation machine without understanding how it works. This part of the movie stretches credibility to the limit. We have to accept that the design is beyond human comprehension but is not beyond human engineering ability.

At the end of the movie Foster asks the people of the world to accept on faith that the huge investment in the transportation machine was not wasted. She claims it did transport her light years away to Vega despite the absence of proof. If she did go to Vega what did it achieve for the human race?

There is a romantic subplot which is primarily used to fuel the debate between science and religion. Foster is firmly in the science camp while her romantic interest (Matthew McConaughey) represents religion. The point is made that religion requires faith in the existence of a supreme being despite the absence of scientific proof.

The movie is based on a book by the astronomer Carl Sagan. It is a pleasure to see a sci-fi movie which makes a big effort to portray space exploration in a realistic manner. However, the scene set in distant space is fanciful and unconvincing. I think Contact aims a bit high and gets into a situation which can only be explained by the answer to life, the universe and everything.

Although Contact leaves the big questions unanswered it deserves credit for exploring them in an intelligent and entertaining manner. This movie is a must-see for skywatchers. Astronomy is looking up.

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Screenplay: James V Hart and Michael Goldenberg, based on a story by Carl Sagan

Music: Alan Silvestri

Movie Reviews | Home | Top