Contact
released 1997
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”Contact” is an American sci-fi drama adapted from the book of the same name by Carl Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan. It was produced by Robert Zemeckis amd Steve Starkey. It stars a very talented group of actors including Ann Druyan, Jodie Foster, John Hurt, Matthew McConaughey, Jake Busey, Angela Bassett, James Woods,Kathleen Kennedy, Rob Lowe, Tabitha Soren (as herself), William Fichtner, David Morse, Jena Malone, Geoffrey Blake, Tom Skerritt, Henry Strozier, Sami Chester, Timothy McNeil, Laura Elena Surillo, Michael Chaban, Max Martini, Thomas Garner, The Senator J.A. Preston, Thomas Reid, Sushine Logrono, Ming Lo, Carl Gillard, Aixa Clemente, Candice T. Rain, Christopher Boyer, William L. Thomas, Hiroshi Tom Tanaka, Mak Takano, Jim Hild, Catherine Dao, Seiji Okamura, Robin Gammell, Alice Kushida, Jose´ Rey,Tucker Smallwood, Yuji Okumoto, Pamela Wilsey, Bryant Gumbel (as himself), John Holliman, Leo Lee, Behrooz Afrakhan, Vance Valencia and Leon Harris (as himself). The music was composed by Alan Silvestri. It has won many awards for a good reasson. This is a sci-fi classic.

”Contact” is an American sci-fi, drama film about first contact. More precisely it deals with first contact of a peaceful, alien race that is more advanced than us. It´s the journey of Dr. Eleanor ”Ellie” Arroway, played by Jodie Foster, as she explores and eventually makes contact with a benevolent alien race. Her journey begins as a child when her nurturing father piqued her curiosity of what lay beyond the heavens. Years later she receives a signal from the star Vega while working for SETI. The story takes many turns as Ellie encounters all kinds of opposition from smaller minds but she is capable and determined and eventually recieves the much deserved support from billionare H. S. Hadden, played by John Hurt. The film also explores the changing religious beliefs in our fast changing times.

You also have the ambitious climber named David Drumlin, played by Tom Skerritt, who manipulates the scientific and corporate systems to become the media darling and lead astronaut in the portal project even though Ellie is clearly a better candidate. His big quote which is more a weak excuse for his bad behavior is ”It´s a dog eat dog world”, to which Ellie answers ”Really? I thought life is what you make it.”. Ellie is a person with integrity. The content of Ellie´s character make her an ideal candidate for the space/portal program and a good hero worth rooting for.

”Contact” is a simple yet believable story of what contact with outside intelligences might be like. Jodie Foster does such a good job as Ellie that I have trouble picturing her in any other role. It´s the story of a daughter missing her father and it´s the story of a scientist who goes on a quest of exploration and discovery. There´s a very good reason why so many talented people took part in this film. This may be an old movie but I consider it a classic worth seeing. What a good movie.

(Commentary by www.ink2quill.com )
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