Contact

Year: 1997 Rating: PG Overall Evaluation: 7.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 7.0 / 10 4.0 / 10 8.0 / 10 9.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

Rated PG for some intense action, mild language and a scene of sensuality (nothing too objectionable visually but it does take place between an alleged born again Christian who seem to have no moral qualms about jumping into bed with a date).

Story

The story revolves around a scientist's search for extraterrestrial life and what happens when she finds it. Aliens have provided some means of contact with them but it will take a lot of work. During all this work the scientist sort of falls for an ex-priest or something (a "spiritual advisor") who also manages to be a spiritual thorn in her side. They argue back and forth continually on subjects of science and religion. In the end she is forced to deal with some faith issues as she sees the failure of "pure" science. It's not easy to keep an audience for over 2.5 hours, but they did a good job.

Suppositions

Obviously the film requires life on other planets for its foundation, but this is not really a sci-fi film. Rather it makes pretty sweeping statements about the actuality of alien life. This is not seen as a problem for the Christian spiritual advisor which is odd (the Bible seems to intimate that there is not life on other planets although it is far from clear on the matter, in reality it would probably cause quite a few issues to rise but it would not contradict Christianity). Further, the spiritual advisor is supposedly Christian yet he hops right into bed with the scientist with no apparent moral issues - lame. One thing I did like was that for once the "Christian" was not some moron or simpleton. He is the advisor to the president and is good at using the scientist's arguments against her own atheistic position. For example here is one scene where they square off:

ELLIE (scientist): Occam's Razor, it’s a basic scientific principle. And it says, all things being equal, the simplest
explanation tends to be the right one.
PALMER (spiritual guy): Makes sense to me.
ELLIE: Alright. So what’s more likely...An all powerful and mysterious God created the Universe, and then decided not to give any proof of his existence, or that he simply doesn’t exist at all, and that we created him so that we didn’t have to feel so small and alone?
PALMER: I don’t know. I couldn’t imagine living in a world where God didn’t exist. I wouldn’t want to.
ELLIE: How do you know your not deluding yourself? As for me, I’d need proof.
PALMER: Proof. Did you love your father?
ELLIE: Huh?
PALMER: Your Dad, did you love him?
ELLIE: Yes, very much.
PALMER: Prove it.

Now I'd say there are way better ways to handle this "objection" (e.g. Occam's Razor cannot itself be proven scientifically so she is already putting her faith in something nonscientific and without proof. Further, God did indeed give plenty of proof of His existence). And, while he did start off with a lame-o subjective response he eventually made a point that she could understand. Oh well, maybe if some believers would be willing to make a movie that was not just an excuse to deliver the Four Spiritual Laws they could do a better job!

Significance

It is not insignificant that this story was written by agnostic scientist Carl Sagan. He is quite clearly using the scientist as his voice throughout the movie. I was surprised when the spiritual elements came across favorably. This saved the film from a much lower rating as it would have seemed far more propagandish (my word) than it ended up being. Yes, in the end the scientist is right, but she has to face the fact that science cannot give us all the answers. It would have been nice if the Christian had been a better apologist because he could have really taken her apart on some issues. But, that would be asking far too much from Hollywood. The fact that the scientist does get turned around from her arrogant and elitist attitude made the movie fairly decent.