Contact - book and movie

As the title suggested, it is about the first contact with extra terrestrial lifeforms. Watching the movie for the first time when I was a kid, I was totally mesmerized. And a few months ago, I just finished the book, and it didn't disappoint me. As many other film adaptations from books, many scenes in the book have to be cut short or totally taken out in movie, because movie is just too short to convey the whole book. There are actually many things in the book that make more sense than in movie. But I think the movie is still good even aftter cutting short of a few things. The pacing of the movie is fast and compact, which is good in a way. Many scenes are so mind-blowing that I don't think many audiences would be able to grasp the illogicality behind it.

The book is named "Contact", written by Carl Sagan. The movie was out just after his death, that's why there is line "for Carl" at the end of the movie, just before the credit. A rather interesting fact is that, the story was supposed to be screenplay at first. But then the film project was dropped and Carl decided to make it into a novel. And then the film project was picked up again in the early 90's. 

As the book, it is rather a medium-length book, in my personal scale. But it just doesn't feel that long after all. It is a page turner for sure. Carl's style of writing is very simple and straight forward, but it doesn't stop him to convey some big ideas. In fact, his style is good in the sense to be able to reach out to the public, to make science more accessible for the public, something which he had been doing through out his life.  

It is about the first contact with extra terrestrial lifeforms. The main idea of the story is no new to many of us, but Carl presented the story in such an intelligent way. Through the book, he was asking one of the big questions that human beings have been asking since a long time ago, almost as ancient as our existence : Are we alone? The book deals also with the vicious gap between science and religion, and Carl suggested that the gap is rather self generated and insignificant, perhaps inexistent. I don't think Carl wanted to suggest atheism, or any theism or any other categories that people can make up. Throughout his book, I can feel that he wanted to reunite both science, and religion and faith. Science and religion, they actually both are the tools we use to search for the truth. 

There are many things I prefer in the book than the movie. Such as, in the book, it was a world wide event, unlike the movie in which the Americans are always the heroes and saviors of humanity, something we often see in many Hollywood blockbusters. In the book, 5 people were sent for the mission and 5 of them are from different races, representing the proportion of world population. But too bad they sent only scientists. After what happened during the mission, like what Ellie, the main character, suggested, they should have sent a poet. I totally agree with that. I can understand why scientists were chosen for the mission. But to pick 5 people to represent humanity is difficult. Basically it is asking what can represent humanity the best, and you can only choose 5. Personally, I would have sent two scientist, a poet, a musician, an athlete.

I like the way the book is presented also. Each chapter will start off by a prologue, an extraction or a quote from other book or other people. Each one of them gives me a "WOW" and my jaw drops because of these prologues. For example, chapter 8 starts off like this,

The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable misture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon Earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings.

- Edward Gibbon, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", XV

And chapter 9,

Wonder is the basis of worship. 

- Thomas Carlyle, "Sartor Resartus"(1833-34)

Well, in both the book and the movie, I like the way Carl presented to us the aliens contacted. They are not the little green men like the aliens we always think of, but they showed up in a subtle way. In fact, the "little green man" is such a stereotype, a stereotype of human about other extra terrestrial lifeforms. I like the ending very much too. At the end, despite being religiously skeptical,  Ellie somehow became a "prophet", asking people to take a leap of faith and believe in what she had experienced.     

One of my friend asked me once, about my top 5 favorite movies of all time. That time I totally forgot about this movie. I mean how could I forget about it?! It is certainly on my top 5. If not top 5, at least must be top 10. Every time I watch the climax of movie, the conversation between Ellie and the alien always moves me, always makes my eyes swelling up. Both the book and the movie are awesome. This is a story that will stay in your mind, long after you finish reading it or watching it.