Contact: 25 Years On and Still the Best Sci-Fi

By Robert Weir

The inception of Contact began in 1979, when world-famous cosmologist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Carl Sagan, together with his wife, Ann Druyan, embarked upon writing it as a science fiction novel. The book finally came to fruition in 1986, and it would be more than a decade before it hit the big screen. Directed by the legendary, Robert Zemeckis, and starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, the premise of an advanced alien civilisation making contact with us takes the audience on a journey of discovery, giving us a glimpse of a universe with endless possibilities.

Contact does more than offer up the classic, ‘adventure of a lifetime’ scenario. It asks questions of how humanity would act and react to the reality that we are not alone in the universe. Furthermore, it delves into our psychological response to knowing that the aliens are also far more advanced than us mere humans. It removes humans from the sense that we are at the top of the tree, calling on us to proceed into uncertain territory as we decide on how to assertively react towards an encounter with an advance civilisation.

There have been other movies that have played with the same scenario, such as Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET, and more recently Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. These movies, together with Contact, differ from the usual alien blockbuster, by showcasing the advanced aliens as non-aggressive in their approach to humankind. However, Contact goes the extra mile, dealing with the science versus God religious questioning, displaying the collective human reaction, intrinsically weaved throughout its plot.

The story focuses on radio astronomer, Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), who searches for her own meaning to life after the death of her father. She believes in pure science and is an agnostic when it comes to religion and the existence of God. When Ellie meets theologian, Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), he challenges her to rethink her spiritual stance, to be open to the possibility of a higher power. After dedicating her scientific career to searching for life outside our galaxy, Ellie stumbles upon a signal sent from Vega, a bright star just twenty-five light years from Earth. Embedded in the signal are blueprints to build a transport, for one human to visit the intergalactic beings.

News reports are cleverly peppered throughout the story, with examples of radical ideals from every corner of society rising to the surface. This lies in contrast with the character of Ellie representing the more steady, rational, if not, pragmatic approach to dealing with the issues at hand. Politicians are not spared the frailties of human nature, and between the reasoning and attempts by some to be sensible, the power positioning sees Ellie jostling to be heard and to be relevant in a world of unfair back play.

Although Ellie discovered the signal, life continues to take aim at her, with the journey of a lifetime snatched by Head of the Science Foundation, David Drumlin, who is chosen to represent humankind on the mission to Vega. But with the machine destroyed in an act of terror by a religious zealot, Ellie finds a second chance with eccentric billionaire, S.R. Hadden, who has secretly built another machine to transport a single occupant. As she embarks on her journey to Vega, she is met by an advanced being, who represents itself in the form of her long-lost father. Through the brief interaction with the ‘higher power’, Ellie is given a glimpse of the vastness of life throughout the universe, and assured that she is not alone, and that ‘the only thing that makes the emptiness of space bearable, is each other’.

With her transport pod seeming not to have left Earth at all, Ellie’s story of meeting the alien species is met with disbelief. A committee is assigned to question the validity of Ellie’s story, but without proof, she is asked if they should just take her story, ‘on faith’. The juxtaposition of the conflicting ideas of science and faith are sharply brought to the surface, having been planted with strong motifs earlier.

By the end of Contact, it is obvious that on all levels, the story is one of optimism, in that we can handle the truth of finding an advanced civilisation, and hopefully learn from it. However, the essence of the story is that we can learn and find the answers to life, all on our own. It also brings to light a sensible conclusion that God can exist simultaneously with the existence of another civilisation in the universe.

With the help of Carl Sagan overseeing the movie, Robert Zemeckis, and his crew were able to make this the ultimate ‘humans-meet-advanced-aliens’. By the end of Contact, like Ellie, we too feel that we have gained an important insight into our own place in the universe. And that no matter what life throws our way, we are never alone.