The '90s are filled with a handful of gems from the sci-fi genre, including hits such as Total Recall, Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, The Fifth Element, and The Matrix. Competition is fierce, but the 1997 film Contact finds a way to stand out among the rest.
The film was directed by Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis, who also directed the Back to the Future trilogy, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The film stars Jodie Foster, playing the main character of Eleanor Arroway, Matthew McConaughey as a Christian philosopher and fellow space enthusiast named Palmer Joss, and Tom Skerritt as David Drumlin, who plays a science advisor to the President.
The film tells the story of Dr. Arroway and her search for extraterrestrial life. She spends years researching, when she uncovers a repeating numerical sequence sent from a star system 26 light-years away. Further research uncovers schematics for a giant transportation system that could support only one occupant. An international panel is then created to choose the candidate who will travel in the machine, with Dr. Arroway as one of the frontrunners. The success of the film comes from its wonderful direction and acting, the realistic world in which the narrative unfolds, and the enthralling and realistic story.
Acting
The cast of this film really all put on great performances. Notable performances include acting from William Fichtner, as fellow scientist Kent, David Morse as Dr. Arroway’s father, and John Hurt as a billionaire who provides financial backing for the project. The supporting characters do a great job bringing life into the realistic science fiction world, but the real stars of the film here are Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey.
Foster is a two-time Oscar winner with two additional nominations under her belt. She won an Oscar for her performance in Silence of the Lambs and The Accused. Her distinct, sheepish yet confident line execution comes across as incredibly realistic and has the viewer rooting for her success throughout the film.
McConaughey’s role in this film is an important one. He plays a former lover of Dr. Arroway and the main competition as an astronaut for the new transportation system. Having won one Oscar for his performance in 2014 with Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey proves his acting proficiency with this passionate and eccentric performance.
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World Building
One of the most compelling and important aspects of the science fiction genre is world-building. The ability to create and then draw the viewer into a unique and captivating setting. Unlike other films of the era like Star Wars, The Fifth Element, and Jurassic Park, this film is set in a world that is very similar to our own. Even the fictional elements of this film are realistic. Before the extra-terrestrial message is discovered the research program that Foster’s character is employed through is expected to be cut because of a lack of funding, a sad reality for many science research programs throughout the United States.
After the message is discovered but before the schematics are deciphered, Dr. Arroway discovers a speech from Hitler embedded in the message. It is guessed that this was the first signal produced that would be strong enough to reach outside our atmosphere. Another realistic detail is that once the schematics for the transportation machine are uncovered, it is not the government that fronts the financial backing, but it rather comes from private money in the hands of a secretive billionaire. Small touches like this help make the fictional storyline much more believable and make for an incredibly entertaining film.
The less realistic aspects of this film are also incredibly unique and help to make the film quite the novel experience. The transportation device that is being constructed is unlike many that are seen in other films. It does not resemble any sort of spaceship or gate to another world. Instead, it consists of a platform supporting three large rings that spin in spherical unison and a large crane overtop, which holds the single-traveler transportation pod. When the transportation finally does take place, the sequence diverges from the typical space travel shown in other films. The main character enters a sort of liminal dream state outside of the transportation vessel. The science-fiction elements of this film, both realistic and fantastical, help to create an immersive and interesting landscape.
Storyline
It would be remiss to not include the fact that this film is inspired by a novel that was written in 1985 by Carl Sagan. Sagan was an American professor and astrophysicist whose point of view when writing this story add credentials and believability. The film not only explores elements of space travel, but time dilation, human perception, and advanced extraterrestrials. All concepts that really start to chip away at the peripherals of human understanding, but that are demonstrated in an easy-to-understand and enthralling narrative.
Sagan, who passed in 1996, was not able to see the film that his novel inspired. But, through the direction of Robert Zemeckis, it succeeded. With the Back to The Future films on his resume, the director already had experience with the sci-fi genre, but other blockbusters from Zemeckis lean more towards the genre of adventure and drama. The product was constructed from Sagan’s knowledge of astronomy and extraterrestrials in combination with Zemeckis' adept knowledge of film direction leading to a very enjoyable and highly produced science fiction film with keen attention to details related to astronomy, space exploration, and time dilation. There are a lot of great science fiction films produced in the 90s, but Contact is without a doubt, one of the best.