ARRIVAL B
USA (116 mi) 2016
‘Scope d: Denis Villeneuve Official
site
Language is the first
weapon drawn in a conflict.
—Louise Banks (Amy Adams)
An old-fashioned love story dressed up in a Spielbergian
sci-fi package, like the return of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977),
where the director has formulated an intriguing opening and closing, which
stand out for their novel originality, yet the middle seems to drag under the
weight of standard military operations that seem to always suggest anything
that can go wrong will go wrong. Only
in the movies do people actually live in these picture-perfect locations, like
a gorgeous, heavily windowed home on the side of a commercially undeveloped
lake, where there’s no neighbors to speak of and a stunning landscape for as
far as the eye can see. It’s an idyllic
place of retreat that becomes synonymous with home, the place you raise your
children and return to night after night when returning from work. In this setting, to the elegiac music of Max Richter - On the Nature
of Daylight - YouTube (6:14) that opens and closes the film, also used in a
dream sequence in Scorsese’s SHUTTER ISLAND (2010), a narrator announces in
somber tones that “I used to think this was the beginning of your story,” with
this being the place where a certain child was born, as Dr. Louise Banks (Amy
Adams) announces “We are so bound by
time…by its order…These are the days that define the story of your life,” as we
witness a fast-moving flashback montage of her young daughter Hannah’s life quickly
developing through childhood with her single mom until she dies mysteriously of
a rare illness. “Now I’m not sure I believe
in beginnings and endings.” What follows
is an indication that there’s a different beginning, something significant that
comprises the majority of the film, though we are caught off-guard, wondering
if this all happened in the past, or in the future, or if time has somehow been
altered in some way. Recollections of
her daughter occur throughout as the film takes an eerie shift to aliens
landing in twelve different spots on the globe, where linguist expert Dr. Banks
is whisked to the scene by military escort along with physicist Dr. Ian
Connelly (Jeremy Renner) to help communicate with these extraterrestrials. Based on Ted Chiang’s acclaimed 1998 short story
entitled Story of Your Life, winner
of the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1999, the film has been adapted by
screenwriter Eric Heisserer, where Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, fresh
from his Hollywood action thriller Sicario
(2015) that takes us into the heart of the Mexican drug cartels, Enemy
(2013) , a curiously compelling indie film where a supposed body double
turns into an allegorical nightmare of a coming apocalypse, Prisoners
(2013), an intriguingly cast Hollywood vigilante movie that veers into torture
porn, and 2011
Top Ten Films of the Year #7 Incendies, arguably the best of the bunch, a
search through a war-torn Middle East for the missing truth about one’s mother,
all of which in some way are an exploration of grief.
From a sparsely populated university class by Dr. Banks on
the Portuguese language where what few students showed up are completely glued
to their cellphones following news updates on the alien landings, panic breaks
out across the globe, as students walk out on class, the stock market plunges,
fights break out in public, riots ensue, end of the world cults declare a
coming apocalypse, while TV demagogues call for radical actions, and everyone immediately
calls their moms, as this event has a way of altering the world order, with
various nations developing their own way of responding to this unknown
presence. While the book never ventures
into a military response, that’s simply not the Hollywood way, who after all,
sent the military after King
Kong (1933), laying its imprint all over this picture that might have been
so much better without it. Curiously,
the film never shows that actual aliens landing, but instead follows the fierce
public outcry, showing images of giant-sized, vertically hanging blimps,
showing no signs of releasing toxic gas, while at the same time there is no
follow up response from the extraterrestrial creatures, who never leave their
ships and are content to sit there passively.
By the time Dr. Banks arrives to a rural Montana farmland, a military
protocol has been established, as they are the only units allowed close to the
landing sites, as the public has been prevented from being anywhere near them,
which is why television figures so prominently in the ensuing panic. While there are military officers constantly
monitoring the alien ships, Dr. Banks and Dr. Connelly are escorted to the site
by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), revealing as little as possible about their
mission, but basically wanting to know why are they here? While Connelly immediately goes into a litany
of mathematical possibilities that will be unearthed by their successful
interplanetary travels, it’s Dr. Banks that insists upon basic communication
first before they get ahead of themselves.
Therein lies her specialty, claiming being in the presence of the aliens
helps her understand how they communicate.
Dressed in bulky biohazard spacesuits, where they are hosed down
afterwards to prevent contamination, they are hoisted into the interior of the
alien ship, as they soon learn a lower door opens every 18 hours for
visitation. The anticipation of the
initial contact has an extraordinary suspense factor, as no one, including the
audience, knows what to expect. This
aspect is deftly handled by the director, elevating the level of expectation to
unseen heights, which is arguably the best part of the film. Once inside, they reach what looks like an
elevator shaft that they must ascend, where surprisingly they are able to climb
up themselves, as gravity disappears, though they stumble from the newness of
it all and the bloated awkwardness of their suits. Their destination is enclosed with a large
window panel containing the only light, behind which the aliens appear, as if
rising out of a haze of smoke, strangely resembling the arachnid creatures
hovering over the city seen in Enemy
(2013) .
While this is the third time the director has used music
from Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, cinematography by Bradford Young,
who also shot Selma
(2014) and A
Most Violent Year (2014), there are sounds emanating from the aliens,
perhaps resembling oceanic creatures like whales, yet no one has been able to
make any sense out of them. Described as
heptapods, for their seven dangling legs, they actually resemble jellyfish, but
the question remains for viewers, how would any of us attempt to start a
conversation? Dr. Banks chooses to start
with the word “human” written on a notecard, holding it out for them to
see. The movements of the creatures is a
bit unexpected, as they have a star-like appendage at the end of one leg that
emits a cloud of black ink, like a squid, which mysteriously assembles into a
circular image with slight variations around the edges, like pieces of growing
ivy, making each image distinct, which is how they convey their language. Back in the science lab afterwards, she and
Dr. Connelly pour over the images they received trying to make some sense out
of it, returning again 18 hours later for another visit. We lose any sense of time, as the visits are
compacted, though Dr. Banks continues to collect her images while we continue
to get mixed messages about what’s happening around the world, as China and
Russia are growing increasingly irritated and militarily belligerent, where
they fear the aliens are threatening their authority, wanting to send a message
through gunfire. Dr. Banks disagrees,
thinking they have initiated no dangerous acts of any kind, and should be
understood accordingly. But as the
military of each nation seems to be in charge, the mere presence of these
extraterrestrials is sending the world into a frenzy, while the real question
is more about humans, asking how are we going to learn to understand “the
other” without being afraid and resorting to violence? This is perhaps the central theme of the
film, all part of the learning curve of discovery, as the military reviews any
and all progress being made, holding a heavy hand over what happens next. Over time, Dr. Banks collects what amounts to
a working vocabulary, with each message conveying multiple meanings, where she
marvels at their originality, claiming “They can write a complex sentence in
two seconds.” But when the military
insists she finally ask why are they here, the answer is surprising, “offer
weapon,” which ambiguously may have multiple meanings, as Banks feels weapon
may also mean tool, while Col. Weber reminds her, “Remember what happened to
the aborigines. A more advanced race
nearly wiped them out,” but the aggressiveness associated with the word “weapon”
sends military units around the world into heightened paranoia, disconnecting
from worldwide communication systems, basically signing off into radio silence,
first one nation, but eventually everyone, where no one wants to share what
they’ve learned, overwhelmed by a sense of national self-preservation.
With rogue military units on the loose, Banks’ missions
appears to be spiraling out of control, especially after receiving a much
larger image with hundreds more symbols, something they had never seen before
that leaves them completely bewildered.
Connelly comes up with the idea that maybe each of the twelve sites is
communicating only partial messages, which need to be combined to make sense,
requiring mutual cooperation if they are to be understood. Of course, that’s not the way military
operations see things, and they uniquely, instead of scientists, have control
of the operations, while around the globe their heavy-handed approach is winning
out. Unfortunately, this military angle
diminishes the quality of the film, as it reduces the moral dilemma to black
and white, good and evil, with the military representing the one-dimensional
superficiality of the latter. This is
never a good sign, and might have worked during the surprisingly benign era of
Spielberg, where life always seemed to recall the innocence of the Eisenhower
era of the 50’s, but in the present day they are too easy a target, with the
film placing a bulls-eye on their back, making them the bad guys, including
rudely ordering people around, refusing to listen to any other views, and
basically being hard-asses. In an event
this extraordinary, requiring as many variant points of view as possible, one
would think we could rise to more sophisticated levels than this, where perhaps
NASA and their people might be involved, as after all, they have actual
experience in space exploration. While
this element doesn’t ruin the film, but it certainly dampens one’s enthusiasm
overall, as this amazing discovery and consequent burst of scientific curiosity
has the possibility at least of providing so much more elevated material, where
the military aspect simply bogs down the exploration of ideas. Banks, who has flashbacks of her own daughter
throughout, as if having visions, suggests the aliens may be able to
communicate with her even after she leaves the vessel, or is perhaps suffering
unanticipated side-effects, yet it’s all part of the turmoil of the times,
where China is on the verge of attack and the military is ending all
communications, evacuating the premises, and pulling back from the alien
ship. At that moment, when our future as
a planet is at risk, Banks has a breakthrough, discovering “Time isn’t linear
to them!” With that, she understands
that her flashbacks are actually flash-forwards, as she’s seeing the future,
something only possible through the use of the alien language. This reassembled concept of how we view time
has a beautifully composed final montage filled with miraculous accomplishments
and poetic ruminations, where we’re literally able to see inside the soul of
Louise Banks, who becomes strangely heroic and vulnerable in the process,
becoming an extremely compelling character, something not often associated with
scientists in film, but Amy Adams offers the performance of her career,
projecting a highly motivated figure who is bold, warmhearted, and resilient,
committed to her responsibilities, exuding a maternal sweetness that contrasts
with those around her, becoming a moving sci-fi film that explores the future
yet searches just as deeply within the hearts of our own humanity.
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