Contact roger ebert reviews
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But if it’s just us, it would be an awful waste of space.” — Dialogue from “Contact”
You can hear an echo there of the hopeful, curious voice of the late Carl Sagan, who spoke optimistically of “billions of billions of stars,” and argued that if life can exist at all (and it can), then it should presumably be found all over the universe.
Directed by Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis and starring Jodie Foster, Contact took things further with a story that not only defied expectations but also explored science, faith, and humanity’s search for meaning more than any other in the genre.
Contact Explores Both Alien and Human Intelligence
Contact follows Ellie Arroway (Foster), an astronomer who refuses to believe humanity is alone in the universe.
Some of it you can guess. Yet reading my review I find the movie didn’t seem as brave to me then as it does now. For an entry into a genre that was already overloaded with alien invasions and space battles, Contact is an intelligently different take on humanity’s place in the cosmos, raising questions rarely discussed in the movies.
- Release Date
- July 11, 1997
- Runtime
- 150 Minutes
- Director
- Robert Zemeckis
- Writers
- Michael Goldenberg, James V.
Hart
Roger Ebert – First Review – 1997:
Roger Ebert – Great Movies Review – 2011:
I watched the 1997 film, Contact, again last night and I, like Ebert, was struck with its boldness as it seeks to weave together politics, faith, and science.
National security advisor Michael Kitz (James Woods) dismisses the findings, while Drumlin attempts to claim credit, leaving only presidential advisor Rachel Constantine (Angela Bassett) to offer support. Still waiting for E.T. to call?”), but her obsession runs deep: With her father (David Morse), she shared the excitement of picking up distant stations on a ham radio outfit.
You may be guessing wrong. One shot seems like a lighthearted quote from Spielberg’s own “Jaws.” In that film, a high-angle shot showed the shadow of the giant shark passing under a boat. Spielberg has tightened up the whole film. “Close Encounters,” which was already a wonderful film, now transcends itself; it’s one of the great moviegoing experiences.
She’s needled (“Hi, Ellie. Even its fictional elements manage to maintain some form of realism. While religious themes aren’t that uncommon in the genre, very few films leave viewers questioning the role of faith in both belief and scientific reasoning. Ellie and Palmer disagree about God; as viewers, we are surprised and pleased that the movie lets them debate the subject.
As global reactions mount, from scientific debate to excitement, the team works to decipher the message.
He died while she was still young, and she became convinced that somehow, someday, she could contact him.
This conviction is complicated by the fact that she does not believe in God or the supernatural; perhaps her SETI is a displaced version of that childhood need. I was vacillating between organic chemistry and theoretical physics particularly quantum mechanics.
But I believe that he would agree with me on this. Comparing it to more notable entries, including Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ebert described the film as an exploration of belief systems and political science, going so far as to name it one of the most inventive and smartly written films of the genre.
There is, for example, old Hadden (John Hurt), a billionaire incorporating elements of Howard Hughes and Armand Hammer. Sagan’s expertise brings credibility to the story, informing its more speculative ideas with an accurate perspective. Though invisible, his intervention is perceived to be a representation of a higher presence, which Arroway acknowledges for the first time since her childhood.
Contact is a Religious Movie Disguised as a Sci-Fi Epic
Ebert had good reason to call Contact one of the smartest sci-fi films ever made, mostly because it isn’t technically sci-fi.