CONTACT

 

FOUR STARS - Inspirational

  

 

        The deepest longing of any person is for contact with a Higher Power.  This truth could be no more effectively portrayed than in the film based on Carl Sagan’s book, “Contact.”

        Though most believe that “science has no methods to answer the ultimate questions,”  there are others for whom the scientific quest has become a consuming passion.  One such person is Ellie Arroway (Jody Foster).

        Having lost her mother at birth and her father at age nine, Ellie is a person consumed with contacting the “life” from outer space.

        An unusually gifted scientist, Ellie graduates from high school early, earns a Ph.D. and moves quickly to the top of her profession.  However, she declines the honor of a Harvard professorship in order to dedicate her life to making contact with life from other planets.

        In the beginning stages of her quest, her path crosses with a charming Christian man who is on a similar quest, who claims to have already made contact with God, and now wants to help others find similar meaning in life.

        Although this relationship begins sexually, which scares Ellie away, it is in their similar quests with contrasting world-views that we have an excellent arena in which to deal with the central theme of the film.

        Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) has experienced the presence of God.  His awareness that God exists and that God is a “rewarder of those who seek Him,” is a powerful testimony to Ellie.

        But she seeks proof.  Like a child whose world is bounded by the walls of her home, she has defined her existence only in terms of verifiable proof.

        When Palmer asks her, “Do you love your father?”  she responds, “Of course.”   Palmer then demands the scientifically impossible when he says, “Prove it.”

        This beginning lesson is repeated through the events of the film.   Some things cannot be scientifically proven and yet they are just as real as those which can be.

        This is proven existentially to Ellie when she discovers a message from beings in the Vega star system.  What follows is classic science fiction.  Not only have the beings from space contacted us, but embedded in their greeting is a schematic for developing a transporting device for going to the Vega system.

        With some intriguing plot twists and machinations, including extremists of both the religious and scientific worlds, Ellie eventually is given the opportunity to be the one to make “contact” with the ones who sent the message.

        What happens then is both good science fiction and an existential dilemma.  Ellie experiences a life-changing contact when she travels to Vega and is given the Meaning to Life:  We are here for each other.

        But when she returns, she discovers that the scientific facts are that her travel pod simply dropped from its platform to the net below and there is no scientific support for claimed journey.

        Now she is in the same dilemma as any person who experiences the unexplainable, the supernatural or the spiritual:  Was what she experienced real, or must she abandon her experience in favor of the “scientific evidence?”

        The troubling evidence for the scientists is that her camera recorded 18 hours of static while they only witnessed her experience in 5 seconds.  Do they trust their visual experience or believe her testimony?  Is there a reality beyond what we can see with our eyes?

        All of us long for “Contact.”  If we believe there is life on other planets with superior technology and abilities and we want to seek a relationship with them, then we will follow Ellie’s lead and listen intently to the sounds on our scientific antennas.

        But if we believe there is a God whose love and care is reflected in our desire to love and care, then we will follow the lead of Palmer and listen intently to the inner sounds on our souls.

 

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