This raises a question: Should the first human to meet an alien believe in God? Ellie loses the prize to her boss, David Drumlin ( Tom Skerritt), an opportunist who has taken credit for her pioneering work in SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). At a late point in the hearings, Palmer Joss blindsides Ellie by asking her if she believes in God. Ellie, whose team received the message, is one of the candidates. S., and for political reasons the astronaut will be American. Although an international team of candidates has been selected, the cost of the ship has mostly been paid by the U. The encrypted signal, when opened, contains plans for the manufacture of an enormous machine, apparently a space craft of some sort, which will presumably take a single human to a meeting with the alien intelligence on a planet circling Vega, the fifth brightest star in the night sky, about 25 light years away from Earth.Ī key element of the film involves Congressional hearings to determine who should be the astronaut aboard the ship. Hollywood treats movies like a polite dinner party: Don't bring up religion or politics. Perhaps that's because I've since become involved in so much discussion about Creationism, another topic that stands at the intersection of science, politics and faith.
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Yet reading my review I find the movie didn't seem as brave to me then as it does now. When the movie was released in July 1997 I had more or less the same beliefs I have now about the existence of God and the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. They justify their politics with the catch-all motive of "national defense." Key roles are played by science advisors to the President, who see aliens, God and messages from space all in cynical political terms.
In the film she forms a cautious relationship with Palmer Joss ( Matthew McConaughey), a believer in God who writes about science. Eleanor Arroway ( Jodie Foster), who is an atheist.
Its heroine is a radio astronomer named Dr. Watching the film again after 14 years, I was startled by how bold it is.
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