Arrival

It is amazing how much we can learn from space. Yet, we barely know what is out there, because there must many many planets we have no knowledge of. Could there be life on planets, perhaps a planet that could look like Earth ? Hard to say i suppose, but i don´t think i is impossible that we could find life, in such a big universe. In centuries, humans have been interested in alien life forms. Some believe they have visited us for many years, and know everything about us, and our technology. Some people say they have been abducted, and have been on board space ships. I honestly don´t believe in ( most ) of these stories, because the so called proof material they say they have, is usually not very believable. There are even those who say they have become pregnant by aliens, like the hybrid mothers Bridget Nielsen and Aluna Verse. They tell their story on an article, published by the british news site Express.co.uk. I remember reading this story in October 2016, and the first thing i noticed was that one of the hybrid mothers Bridget Nielse, mentioned that she takes phone calls as a medium. Ok....so with this mix of being a mother of an alien baby, and a medium, i can´t imagine that she actually think that we would take her serious. Of course she is going to make money, all of these people find ways to make their names heard. When i think of aliens, i mostly think of how many great films we have to choose between. One of the greatest classics is of course Steven Spielberg´s Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. The 1976 film may not have the best special effects of all time, but still manage to capture the audience, because the film is both well made, and hold very solid acting performances. But i feel that we need to mention a science fiction film, that unfortunately have been forgotten. The 1993 film Fire In The Sky, directed by Robert Lieberman, is a true 90´s classic science fiction film. And one of the things that make this film special, is that the film is based on a true story, when a man is missing from the woods . Eventually he is found several days later, naked, completely torn apart. No one knew what happened. This is a film i highly recommend, worth finding on dvd. Last year we got to experience a science fiction film, no one deserved to see, called Independence Day: Resurgence. An awful sequel to a classic film, so i had much higher hopes when i found out about a film called Arrival. With Amy Adams in the lead role, and the very talented director Denis Villeneuve behind the camera, do we finally have a high quality science fiction film ? Or is this a sci fi story that will be forgotten, for a very long time ahead ?

Linguist Louise Banks ( Amy Adams ) lost her young daughter in cancer. She tries to do the best she can, to deal with the sadness, by focusing on her lecturing at a university. As she is ready to begin class one day, only a few students shows up. The students in the class room, clearly seem to know something is going on outside, and tell Louise to turn on a tv. They find out that twelve extraterrestrial spacecrafts appear around the world, at different locations.¨U.S. Army Colonel G T Weber ( Forest Whitaker ) go to see Louise, asking for her help. They need to make contact with the aliens, and she knows how to communicate in many different ways with different languages. Louise agree to help them, not knowing how to approach the visitors. One mistake, and everything could turn things around completely.

One of the things i really enjoy about Arrival, is that the film really tries to lift up different issues about how we would react in contact with another life form. Would we be afraid to learn about them ? Would we see them as a threat to our planet ? Could they help us in any way ? There are many questions that are brought up, not specifically the same ones that i asked, but something similar. Instead of focusing on alien battles, or humans attacking another life form, Arrival tries to dig deep into how we all handle a situation in an unexpected life changing moment. One detail i enjoy also is the communication scenes, when Louis Banks tries to understand their way to speak through different circle formations, like some kind of ink, almost like an octopus. I wont reveal how these aliens look, simply because i think it is more interesting to see them without knowing too much. The story surrounding the contact between humans and another life form have been done many times before. But the good news is that Arrival tries to do this genre in a different way. There are also flashback scenes, to where we learn from the life of Louis past, where she lost her daughter in cancer. To move forward, after loosing your child in this horrible way, must be the hardest experience any parent would go through. In some ways, i can imagine that Louise find a way to go on with life, through her knowledge of communication, and now to use this in a completely different way than before. The acting in Arrival is really good, lead actor Amy Adams is simply outstanding as Louis Banks, and you really feel like you can connect with her character. Jeremy Renner is also really good, as the very focused theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly. Their team works become very important through the film, since they are faced with a very difficult task. Forest Whitaker is finally back with a really good performance. I have always loved him as an actor, but sometimes he does not get the chance to shine, as he did in The Last King Of Scotland ( perhaps one of his best performances of his career, so far ). But in Arrival, he really strikes back with a powerful performance, and i am very pleased. Director Denis Villeneuve have done some really amazing films so far, such as Prisoners, Enemy and Sicario, so there is no doubt that he is a very good director. He proves this again with Arrival, where he gets the chance to really lift up science fiction on a different level. You can tell he is not really interested in the usual ingredients, instead, he wants to tell a deeper story, with strong characters. Arrival manage to lift up many issues, and also make you think about how important it is to respect each other, no matter where you are from. You might have heard that Arrival have been Oscar nominated in 8 categories. I think this film deserve to win, because it is not usual to see a science fiction film that deliver such a strong story. Arrival will please sci fi fans guaranteed, unless you expect lots of explosions and gun battles. Definitely worth a cinema visit for all ages.

Rating: DDDD