Film review: “Contact”

Film review – Dagny – 21/11/97

The basic premise of this movie, which is reflected in the stunning opening sequence, is that space is so incredibly, unbelievably vast that there must be someone else out there. “If it’s just us”, say several characters in the film, “doesn’t it seem like an awful waste of space?” The film centres around scientist Ellie Arroway’s belief that we are not alone in the universe, and her discovery of an intelligent signal from outer space. Arroway (Jodie Foster) works for the SETI program, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. This is a marginal area of science that is often not well regarded by the mainstream, and Arroway must struggle for both funding and credibility. But the film is more than just one woman’s struggle for something she believes in, it also asks questions about what alien contact might mean for us, and makes us think about the relationship between science and faith.

Jodie Foster gives a convincing and understated performance as Ellie Arroway, a scientist who is dedicated to her work for its own sake and not for the gratification of her own ego. Ellie’s childhood is revealed to us through the skilful use of flashback, but the film does not bludgeon the audience with psychological explanations for why Ellie is as she is. Ellie’s love-interest and thematic counterpart, Palmer Joss, is played by Matthew McConaughey. Joss is a kind of non-denominational lay clergyman who provides spiritual advice to the American President, and his relationship with Ellie provides the focus of the conflict between science and faith. McConaughey’s portrayal of Joss is charismatic, but a little two-dimensional. The character is not as well developed as Ellie’s, and he has a narrower emotional range, but he is not the central character so this isn’t a major flaw.

The rest of the
cast are also very good, particularly Tom Skerrit as Ellie’s nemesis. One interesting character is the morally ambiguous mastermind Mr Haddon, who pulls strings behind the scenes and gives Ellie most of her funding. Haddon’s presence lends an air of conspiracy to the plot, and ultimately puts Ellie’s research in a dubious position.

Contact is an intelligent and well-constructed film. At two hours and twenty minutes it is slightly longer than average, but it is well paced and gripping. One of the ideas that the movie explores is the opposition between science and faith. Ellie does not believe in God because she has no proof of God’s existence, but during the course of the film she discovers for herself that belief in science can also require faith. Contact shows us that ironically, the SETI project is often closer to religion than to science. Religion often rejects science because it gives us a model of the universe that has no room in it for God, and it finds the search for extra-terrestrial life particularly threatening. On the other hand, the scientific establishment often sees projects such as SETI as a waste of time because they have as yet little proof and require a lot of faith. What Contact shows us is that the search for extra-terrestrial life reflects a need that is found in both science and faith, the desire to feel part of something larger than ourselves, to transcend our earthly boundaries and share in a universal community.

The film concentrates on this positive potential of extra-terrestrial contact to expand our horizons and our humanity, rather than on the negative. The negative, defensive position that perceives contact with others to be a threat is given short shrift. Carl Sagan, who wrote the novel from which the film was adapted, was concerned with the positive and enlightening aspects of science. Sadly, Sagan died last year, but I think he would have approved of the film.

Visit the Contact Web site