leonardogrump
Robert Zemeckis's Contact is based on Carl Sagan's famous novel by the same name and it is one hell of a film. Rightly called the thinking man's science fiction this movie contains many awe inspiring scenes. The opening shot which pans back into space, quietly humbling us by reminding our insignificance, the transmission and receiving of the signal, the machine and teleportation of Jodie Foster in it to meet the "makers", this film is filled with such scenes and joining them together is a fantastic story with an excellent pacing. Contact polarized critics but this is a very good film and features some great performances by Jodie Foster, Mathew Mcconaughey and others.
Sherparsa
Who'll be better fit to face the truth at last: the theist or the atheist?will there be a chance the two would actually fall in love with each other given each takes a non-zealous approach to their own topics of interest?this is a little gem of a movie i wonder why i hadn't seen it before in its day when it was made ... if you like scifi movies that aren't about laser guns and space war games and haven't seen this one, then it's well worth watching the 2.5 hours long run ... don't miss it!
tifa_mog
I loved this film. I really did. But the idea is just as naïve as the protagonist, Ellie, all the scientists working on it and Palmer, the sexy masculine plot device that has no purpose outside spiritual one-liners and giving Ellie the feels. Finally, there's the audience itself, praiusing the movie for its message that faith is just as valuable in pursuit of Truth as empirical evidence in scientific study.Well, Mr. Hadden had you all fooled.Ellie has been especially selected, monitoiredmonitoired by mister Hadden who referred to her as a "worthy investment" - she is someone who is deeply traumatized as a result of losing her parents, and lonely. Her interest in contact with other worlds was encouraged by her father and her real dream was the chance of being able to contact her mother whom she's never known. Next step is atheism, which first arises after the death of her father. A priest trues to tell her that itit's God's mysterious plan, but she as a little girl blames herself for not being able to save him. Even before that she asked too many questions and was taken out of Sunday School for the same reason.So here we have a young woman passionate about science, but also someone who has never been able to let go of her father (this will be relevant later). She represents most of us sceptics/atheists - science by its nature cannot comfort the grieving any more than "God's plan" and it cannot fill the loneliness we feel as a self-aware species the way that bekief in the supernatural and aliens can. The search for ETs is essentially on the same level as the search for God/gods. It is based on the scientific hypothesis that there must be intelligent life somewhere out there, someone more advanced and wiser than we are, someone who could guide us. In the age of science we have turned away from sacred texts towards the stars and mathematics. Contact is really about a dying, bitter, wealthy engineer who was overwhelmed by the burden of guilt from "taking too much from the world." He orchestrated everything. It's strange to me how nobody else sees that. His own fear of death, the unknown and loneliness is what motivated him to do what he did. Ellie was already completely convinced there has to be intelligent life out there, just as any person of faith. She was no sceptic, which is a prerequisite to pursuit of Truth. This movie is a sad but important lesson about human fears and wishful thinking, and that we are unable to do without them. We can never know the Truth as long as we have these fatal flaws. Until then, take the blue pill, and keep dreaming the dream.
