Favorite Movies: Contact

Release date: July 11, 1997

Starring: Jodi Foster, Matthew McConaughey

Written by Carl Sagan

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Contact is my most favorite movie of all time. It’s not a sentiment that millions of other people share but this is the movie that really made me think about the things I  believe in, the things I cannot dream about understanding, and the essence of our humanity. 

The story was penned by renowned astronomist Carl Sagan so the science aspect of the movie is pretty much technically accurate, but not too  technically presented as to alienate the lay person. Put simply, this is the story of Dr. Eleanor (Ellie) Arroway, a consummate scientist who, for years, have been trying to make contact with other intelligent beings outside our own planet.  Her work is constricted by lack of funds and grant support; her peers, naturally, think that searching for extraterrestrial intelligence is a waste of time, money, and technology.

Ellie, on the other hand, will not be deterred. She made her point well: “Look, all I’m asking, is for you to just have the tiniest bit of vision. You know, to just sit back for one minute and look at the big picture. To take a chance on something that just might end up being the most profoundly impactful moment for humanity, for the history… of history.” 

What is science fiction, anyway? Did ancient men ever believed people will be flying planes  today?

In a strange turn of events that will never be fully explained, which to me became the charm of the entire narrative, Ellie discovered a radio signal from deep space that appeared to contain a message. In brief, the message was deciphered and it turned out to be a schematic of some sort of transit; the events that followed are something you can expect would  happen if a worldwide announcement of a confirmation of alien life form will be  realized - mass hysteria, drastic measures from the government, military alert for possible hostility, and all forms of religious uproar.

Meanwhile, Ellie had to go through several hurdles - gender inequality, bureaucracy, her faith or the lack thereof - before she was able to have the chance to be the passenger of the “pod” that will send the first human ambassador to the planet called Vega.  

In deciding to go, she is risking her life for the purpose of getting the answers to the grand questions “Why are we here? What are we doing here? Who are we?” Ellie doesn’t believe in God because she finds no proof of Him. Reaching her destination, she realized that out there, in the vast space that is the universe, is the proof that we are “tiny and insignificant and rare and precious and part of something that is greater than ourselves.”

It seems like a very expensive way of  realizing what many other people already know by heart. Especially considering the fact that she came home without the tiniest bit of evidence that she did make contact with someone who is not quite human in another galaxy.

There is no satisfying resolution to Ellie’s story. She wasn’t able to prove that her trip to space had been successful. In a purely scientific sense, she couldn’t even insist that what she saw and experienced was true.  In the end, it became more of a personal  journey and it is alright because we were there with her.  We listened as she was told that we, as a species, are “capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.”

We will continue to search, there’s no doubt about it. We will continue to question our purpose in the grand scheme of things. But no matter what we believe in and no matter how we view the world, we are never alone. Maybe that’s why in the darkest times when we feel cut off, looking at the stars can sometimes fell like a warm, desperate embrace.