Contact (1997)
science fiction drama
directed
by : Robert Zemeckis
featuring
: Jodie Foster - Matthew McConaughey - James Woods - John Hurt - Tom Skerritt
running
time : 2 hour 23 minutes
The search for life outside our solar system
becomes a personal and spiritual quest for a young researcher. Ellie Arroway
(Jodie Foster) is a scientist who lost her faith in God after her parents
died when she was a child. However, Ellie has learned to develop a different
sort of faith in the seemingly unknowable: working with a group that monitors
radio waves from space, Ellie hopes that some day she will receive a coherent
message from another world that will prove that there is a world beyond
our own. Ellie's hard work is rewarded when her team picks up a signal
that does not appear to be of earthly origin. Ellie decodes the message,
which turns out to be plans for a space craft, which she takes as an invitation
for a meeting with the aliens. Ellie and her fellow researchers soon run
into interference from a White House scientific advisor, David Drumlin
(Tom Skerritt), who cuts off their funding and tries to take credit for
their achievements. However, Ellie receives moral support from Palmer Joss
(Matthew McConaughey), a spiritual teacher who advises President Clinton
and tries to persuade her to accept the existence of a higher power, and
financial backing from S.R. Hadden (John Hurt), a multi-millionaire willing
to fund her attempts to contact the source of the message. Contact was
based on a novel by Carl Sagan, who advised director Robert Zemeckis during
the film's production until his death in 1996.
One of the few really intellectually
engaging sci-fic dramas of the decade, this box-office hit from director
Zemeckis is also surprisingly emotional. A believable basic premise and
an absorbing foray into the real life political and social ramifications
of a major scientific discovery keep the film bristling with energy; so
do some kinetic special effects sequences not limited just to space flight,
but which also include the digital insertion of President Bill Clinton
into the proceedings. All of these elements effectively combine to make
for what amounts to a thinking person's thrill ride. Only the vacant and
oddly unengaged performance of McConaughey, playing what is typically the
supportive, challenging female role, is a misfire, though it may not be
the actor's fault. McConaughey is called upon to play a sexy philosopher
with wounded pride, a good ol' boy drawl, and a tendency to Bible-thump,
who is somehow not too right wing and ends up in a powerful government
post under a liberal president. Clearly, his is the film's most troubling
character and could have used a little re-imagining. Still, McConaughey
plays only a small supporting role that is the one distraction in an otherwise
enjoyable and amazingly credible picture. It's truly a surprise that Contact
works so well, based as it is on a novel by the late, great Sagan, famed
for his skepticism about interstellar travel and alien life forms. Maybe
it takes a doubter to create a truly convincing and plausible story about
such credibility-challenging subjects.