Contact

“The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space." - Carl Sagan..Before starting this review, I’d like to thank my science teachers, but most of all Mr. Even. Mr. Even was my 11th & 12th-grade science teacher in high school. Mr. Even was known for his ADHD-induced rambling, which would leave students who didn't care for science annoyed or bored. But for me, he was a great teacher, someone who cared for the subject instead of just teaching for the paycheck or to go coach their variety sport after 3 o'clock. Mr. Even made me fall back in love with science, more specifically, space. After some 3-4 boring years of learning about chemistry, biology, and other non-space-related sciences, I looked for other interests. Deep down, I knew I loved space science, for god's sake, Interstellar has been my favorite film since 2018. But in the fall of my junior year, Mr. Evan played this movie to give us a taste of what we would learn in his astronomy class. The first thing I can say is that this had me hooked, sure, I had loved Interstellar for its use of space travel and a story of love transcending space & time, but this was something else. It's one of my favorite memories with him, and it's one of the main reasons why I asked him to write my recommendation letter. .What I love about this movie is that this is a story of the REACTION, not the ACTION. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) and Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) were such good contrasts, and they had great chemistry. The story itself is something that will hold up for even more than the 25+ years it has already stood for. . For starters, the idea of faith vs science. Arroway represents the science; she's spent her whole life getting to this point and is the one who first discovers the signal from Vega. And Joss represents faith, he's an educated man who studied in ministry but is open to different ideas and interpretations while sticking true to his faith. But both faith and science impact each of their characters. For Arroway, the idea of pushing faith on her after the death of her father, a minister, calls it an action of the Lord when Arroway knows it was because he didn't have his medication. As for Joss, it's Aliens. If aliens do exist, then what does that mean for faith in God? Can God exist with Aliens? Did God create Aliens? Etc. .As for the rest of the film, the reaction part feels ever so real. For starters, we have our government interference that wants to push America first, and that we "represent humanity." They try and militarize the mission and fund a project from alien signals by giving out incentives if other countries help fund the project. Of course, you have your interference from large billionaires who want control over the plans. Then there are your religious folks who go beyond the extremes of just belief, but the forceful belief that is very much cult-like. These kinds of things are very much a problem we'd have today. Though to be fair, with our government, we would never even build the wormhole machine. .Basically, this film is just everything to me. It forever holds a spot in my heart, and it makes me sad there's no top 5 on Letterbox because this would be it in my opinion. It talks about topics that I am EXTREMELY passionate about. 1. Is it a mistake that we broadcast signals into space? Are we prepared for what could happen? More specifically, the gold disc on Voyager 1 & 2 2. Faith and science? Could faith denominations accept aliens? Do they weaken or strengthen one's faith? Etc.. 3. Could humanity even work together if there was ever contact? Society is so separated by race, class, and gender that if something beyond anything of human imagination were to come here, could we really work together?.In short, this film shows that perhaps we are not ready. As the alien from Vega best puts it, "You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other." It takes a lot for a space film to not just be "Space is fucking awesome, let's go fight aliens and travel the galaxies" but instead say "Why don't you focus on your home first before you step outside." That is what so hard for me 3 years ago and what hits so hard for me even now. .Carl Sagan, you are a genius and I'm glad you're book was able to make it to the big screen. 5/5