Andrew Gage

!!! MAJOR SPOILER ALERT !!! The first time I saw Contact was in a theater during its original release. Overall, I found the movie to be entertaining. The story was engrossing and gave me new ideas to contemplate. It was a satisfying experience. I have revisited the movie a few times over the ensuing years. And while I still enjoy the movie, I have found some problems with it. The first big problem I have is in the casting of Jodie Foster as Arroway. She just doesn't sell the role of scientist to me. Most of the time she comes across as a frightened mouse who lets all of the men in the movie push her around. I keep wanting her to grow a spine, but she never does. Because of Foster's "performance" I have a hard time being sympathetic with her character. I just find her annoying. During her testimony following her experience in the Machine, Ellie once again lets herself be abused by the male members of Congress. She is repeatedly asked for proof that she traveled through space-time, and she caves and says she has none. Apparently she doesn't think anything of the fact that the chair had separated from the ball before being crushed against the hull. Otherwise she would have challenged James Woods and asked him how she could have wrestled the chair free from its moorings and crushed it without any tools in the short time it took for the ball to drop. When James Woods accuses her of making up her story because she wasn't able to provide proof of her experience, why doesn't she turn the tables on him and ask where HIS proof is that could back up his version? As well, she could have insisted that someone else repeat the experiment in order to corroborate her story. The transport device has been built. It seems unlikely that it would have been dismantled by that point, precisely because it hadn't been used for more research. But instead of challenging Woods and the rest of the members, she just cramps up as the meek little mouse and lets the men walk all over her yet again. As I said, Contact is a movie I enjoy re-watching. It would be on my favorite films list if they had cast a more compelling actress to play Ellie, and if Ellie had some moxie to her.