Contact
Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of intelligent aliens, who send plans for a mysterious machine.
- Director:Robert Zemeckis
- Genre:Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi
Cast
Jena Malone : Young Ellie
David Morse : Ted Arroway
Jodie Foster : Eleanor Arroway
Geoffrey Blake : Fisher
William Fichtner: Kent
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Dr. Ellie Arroway is a scientist for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. She and her colleagues listen to radio transmissions in hopes of finding signals sent by extraterrestrial life. Government scientist David Drumlin pulls the funding from SETI. After eighteen months of searching, Ellie gains funding from reclusive billionaire industrialist S.R. Hadden, which allows her to continue her studies at the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
Four years later, with Drumlin pressuring to close SETI, Arroway finds a strong signal repeating a sequence of prime numbers, apparently emitting from the star Vega. This announcement causes both Drumlin and the National Security Council, led by National Security Advisor Michael Kitz, to attempt to take control of the facility. As Arroway, Drumlin and Kitz argue, the team at the VLA discover a video source buried in the signal: Adolf Hitler’s welcoming address at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Arroway and her team postulate that this would have been the first sufficiently strong television signal to leave Earth’s atmosphere, which was then transmitted back from Vega 26 light years away.
The project is put under tight security and its progress is followed fervently worldwide. President Bill Clinton and Drumlin give a television address to downplay the impact of the Hitler image, while Arroway learns that a third set of data was found in the signal–over 60,000 “pages” of data. Government specialists unsuccessfully attempt to decode it. Hadden reveals to Arroway the means of decryption—by viewing the pages in a three-dimensional structure—revealing the basic mathematical language used in the message. The complete translation reveals plans for a complex machine allowing for one human occupant inside a pod to be dropped into three rapidly spinning rings.
The nations of the world come together to fund the construction of The Machine at Cape Canaveral. An international panel is put together to select a representative from a pool of ten candidates (including both Arroway and Drumlin) to travel in The Machine. While Arroway is one of the top selections, her lack of religious faith is noted by Palmer Joss, a trusted friend and one-time lover, resulting in the panel selecting Drumlin. The Machine is then destroyed during a test in a suicide attack by a religious fanatic, killing Drumlin along with many crew members. Afterwards, Hadden reveals to Arroway the existence of a second identical machine hidden on Hokkaid? island, Japan, informing her that they “still want an American to go.” Arroway accepts. Read more
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