CONTACT

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, partial nudity, evolution themes

Rated:

Since first writing this review, I have been confronted with some very different opinions on whether or not Contact is "anti-Christian propaganda." Having only seen it once and even then not being impacted with that appeal, but rather that it caters to both sides, my resolution stands. I find Contact a fascinating film for study but not necessarily anti-religious in all of its avenues.

Young Ellie Arroway is fascinated with the possibility of life on other planets far out beyond our own galaxy and takes her dream sky-high with a team of other engineering young scientists. Unfortunately funding is cut short in Mexico and they are forced to seek new prospects, which come from a surprising and unexpected source. It seems one man has faith in them and the profit is enough to build a high-tech station in Florida where they will continue to track the airwaves. However, the government has other plans for the equipment and buildings and threatens an impending foreclosure. Just as Ellie and her friends begin to loose hope, a breakthrough jolts them and the entire world into a belief that there is indeed intelligent life out there. A series of messages is beamed out from Venous, echoing through the earth's atmosphere, and picked up on major stations all over the world.

With technology, the message can be decoded... to reveal a television airing of Hitler's opening of the Olympic games prior to WWII. But when carefully analyzed, something is found encoded in the capture itself... a mysterious diagram of numeratical codes. As they unlock the secrets of space, they uncover a baffling and terrifying discovery, one that could change the outcome of world history. But Ellie is not in this alone. With an overpowering superior greedy to rake in promotions for himself and the constant attentions of a young Catholic minister as well as the pressure of her work itself, she may be forced to do some searching... not merely for scientific answers but for the truth.

A visually stunning science fiction thriller that offers the "what if?" mentality, Contact is an epic reach in the far scepters of space through the eyes of Ellie Arroway, a young scientist with little belief in God but exceptional imagination. Despite the film's overall good message, it has a few cravats. Language is minimal -- probably a dozen profanities, mostly consisting of "ass" and "sh*t," there are eight misuses of God's name. Ellie and her friends drink on occasion. The film itself arises the question: if there were other life forms in the galaxy, where does God fit in? A virtual stumbling block for some believers, it may prove a thought-provoking and horizon-widening experience for others. However, the film has two main cautions. Ellie's minister friend Palmer professes a belief in God but does very little to show it. He compromises himself by taking God's name in vain and sleeping with Ellie on their first date. Not a good role model to Hollywood of what Christians are really like. And secondly other religious groups are portrayed as save-the-earth biased knot-heads who would go to any extreme to prove their point. One as such even destroys part of a project, saying that in the end at the Apocalypse people will understand why. This brings up a great conflict between believers and non-believers and a battle over whether or not God exists as well as other possible intelligent life forms is a strong current in the film.

Palmer and Ellie do sleep together and we glimpse them in bed (both apparently naked) about twenty minutes into the film. It sours what otherwise could have been an excellent film and Contact could have very easily been edited for content. It's a pity, for the visual effects are incredible, far superior to anything I've glimpsed, surpassing Frequency, Mission to Mars, and even Red Planet in dramatic time travel. Also tying the film together are various references to the president and film clips of Clinton at press conferences as well as startling news interviewers that anyone would recognize which will leave you wondering just which planet you were on when this broke through the media.

Some viewers may be impressed, others offended but in the end all will ask themselves are there other worlds out there? other life forms? other planets light-years away? Are they watching us? And I have no problem with that. With God, all things are possible and who's to say that when the end comes, we won't discover Narnia lingering just out of reach...?