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From SCIFIPEDIA
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Contact, released by Warner Bros. in 1997, stars Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, and David Morse. The film is based on the novel by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, with a screenplay by James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg. Robert Zemeckis directed.
A fairly faithful adaptation of the only novel by astronomer and astrobiologist Carl Sagan, Contact tells the story of humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence. Sagan wanted his story to be as plausible scientifically as he could make it, and so the technologies and motives of the extraterrestrials are more rational and reasonable than, say, those of the invaders in Independence Day. Where the story delves into heavier science fiction (faster-than-light travel via wormholes), the movie at least sticks with the potentially possible, as opposed to the outright impossible.
Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.
Plot
The film tells the story of Eleanor Arroway (Foster), a radio astronomer and SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) researcher. Arroway's chosen field, being speculative and rather “out there,” leaves her marginalized. Her government funding is cut by her former teacher Dr. David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), head of the National Science Foundation. Later she receives private funding from a strange and eccentric billionaire, but Drumlin cancels her lease of the Very Large Array after a few years--only just before a message is received from outer space. On the surface, the message is a string of prime numbers, but it also contains encoded imagery of Adolph Hitler giving a speech at the 1936 Olympics. This is one of the most striking scenes in the film, because apparently aliens like Hitler. The explanation, though, is that that television signal was one of the first broadcasts from Earth strong enough to be detected light-years away. The message also contains instructions for building a machine of some kind, although it doesn't make clear what the machine actually does. It contains a seat for an operator, though, and competition arises as to who gets to be the first guinea pig. Arroway is beaten out by Drumlin, who panders shamelessly to the deciding body. Arroway is unwilling to hide the fact that she's an atheist, and feels that personal belief should not be a part of a scientific pursuit.
After religious extremists blow up the machine (and Dr. Drumlin), Arroway's billionaire sponsor reveals that he's built a spare in Japan, and Arroway is chosen to try it out. She apparently travels to Vega where she sees signs of an intelligent civilization, and she has a cryptic conversation with a vision of her father in a sort of dream world. Returning to Earth, Arroway finds that no time has passed, so no one believes her story. In a bit of a twist ending, though, we learn that her instruments recorded 18 hours of static in that quick instant she was in the machine.
Cast
2008, SCI FI. All rights reserved.
