.
Contact
1997
directed by
Robert Zemeckis
Rating: 8
Story: A scientist receives a message from space and after a bit of wrangling, manages to make a round trip to Vega in lest than a second - but did she ?
Comment: The strength of this movie lies in the fact that the question of "faith" (in God or science) receives equal treatment and concludes for us that faith is really "belief in something which we CANNOT prove". Allie wants to prove there are aliens; Palmer Joss wants to prove to her that God exists ... in the end, both discover that it is the searching which matters most.
Under the skillful hand of Zemeckis, we get one very conflicting message: Did the aliens actually contacted Allie, or was half the movie mere wishful thinking - during her sadness after losing her grant ?
Continuing with the tradition of "Forrest Gump" and the "Back to the Future" trilogy, Zemeckis blends the different camera styles and filming techniques to inject some action in what is essentially a "talking" movie. And by doing so, he gives us a very compelling story. But then, all the tricks in the business is not going to salvage a lousy story; in this respect, the story in itself was the star of the show.
I could, of course, complain about the journey to Vega sequence which seem a tad too long on second viewing, but then, Allie's final speech is worth that minor irritant.
Review: Watch this if you want to go on thinking about it for a few hours after the movie. I couldn't get the questions about God and faith out of my head for about a week.
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