Robert Zemeckis' "Contact" can be a very flawed movie if you want it to be. Yet it avoids accruing any critics from my side because of how daring it is. It finds itself at the universal crossroads between science, religion and politics. Other movies have been there as well but no other has put the question so bluntly: "Do you believe in God?"--if yes, why and if not why not?
It is ambitious, pretentious, it engages existential questions without worrying too much about how logically absurd it is. This is why most people would hate it, but it is exactly why I love it so much. It contains many panoramic frames, but unlike other movies is not trying to show just how small we are, but rather it wants to contain everything--from a field of radars, to a sci-fi machine and space itself.
Movies like "Contact" rarely succeed, but when they do their due is usually great. Zemeckis knew that Carl Sagan's novel takes place in almost a parallel universe so he has no issues with adapting logic to its own benefit. If the message is insightful and powerful enough, the result is a masterpiece, if not, is a laughable dud. Luckily, "Contact" insists on many taboo themes and does them well enough to come out on top.
Each character is well-defined and have very flushed out principles. From Doctor Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) the secular scientist who makes finding life on other planets an obsession more than a job to religious author Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) carrying the flag of belief and able to appear almost everywhere for some reason and to opportunist David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt) who is a good guy, but doesn't flinch when the moment arises. In a way, he wants the same thing that Ellie does, yet he lacks Ellie's emotional wisdom. Her love for the stars is perhaps a result of her mother's early death; deep down is her she is really searching for.
In the end, "Contact" doesn't answer any questions about life on another planets, but that is because Sagan's reliance on science and its lack of facts regarding spacefaring--any answers who could've been given are hypothetical at best. Instead, "Contact" focuses on emotional reactions, reactionary beliefs and both rational and spiritual experiences. The love Sagan shows to both secularism and faith is what made this movie earn my respect.
It is ambitious, pretentious, it engages existential questions without worrying too much about how logically absurd it is. This is why most people would hate it, but it is exactly why I love it so much. It contains many panoramic frames, but unlike other movies is not trying to show just how small we are, but rather it wants to contain everything--from a field of radars, to a sci-fi machine and space itself.
Movies like "Contact" rarely succeed, but when they do their due is usually great. Zemeckis knew that Carl Sagan's novel takes place in almost a parallel universe so he has no issues with adapting logic to its own benefit. If the message is insightful and powerful enough, the result is a masterpiece, if not, is a laughable dud. Luckily, "Contact" insists on many taboo themes and does them well enough to come out on top.
Each character is well-defined and have very flushed out principles. From Doctor Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) the secular scientist who makes finding life on other planets an obsession more than a job to religious author Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) carrying the flag of belief and able to appear almost everywhere for some reason and to opportunist David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt) who is a good guy, but doesn't flinch when the moment arises. In a way, he wants the same thing that Ellie does, yet he lacks Ellie's emotional wisdom. Her love for the stars is perhaps a result of her mother's early death; deep down is her she is really searching for.
In the end, "Contact" doesn't answer any questions about life on another planets, but that is because Sagan's reliance on science and its lack of facts regarding spacefaring--any answers who could've been given are hypothetical at best. Instead, "Contact" focuses on emotional reactions, reactionary beliefs and both rational and spiritual experiences. The love Sagan shows to both secularism and faith is what made this movie earn my respect.