Arrival is the best movie I’ve seen this year and probably one of the best movies I’ve seen in my life. It has stuck with me like so many other films, but not in a weird depressing way like Fight Club or Solaris. While dealing with weighty material, Arrival left me not only questioning life, but eager to find the joy in every single moment.
I’ve thought about trying to write a spoiler-free review of Arrival, but I think that would be an impossible task. Going in I thought I’d get a fascinating movie about first contact and the power of language. Those elements are very much present in the movie, but there’s so much more.
So if you don’t want the movie spoiled, please move on from this review. If you were hoping that this review would help you decide whether or not you should see Arrival then, without spoiling anything, absolutely go see it. It is a tremendous movie that should be seen with friends so that you have someone with whom to discuss it after the final credits roll.
Communication
Communication is at the heart of Arrival. Amy Adam’s character, Dr. Louise Banks, is an expert in language. Her skills are sought to communicate with the aliens who have landed in 12 different ships all across the globe. Her military supervisors want Banks to get to the important questions of why the aliens are on earth and where they come from. Banks, though, understands that we have to crawl before we can walk, which means establishing simple communication like names, pronouns and verbs. Dr. Banks’ commitment reminds all of us that communication is a process. When making first contact or simply meeting someone new, we need to trust in the process of communication and not try to push things too quickly.
Future
The biggest question the movie asked, that I didn’t seen coming at all, was would you change anything about your life if you knew your future. This question comes quickly, near the end of the movie, as Dr. Banks realizes learning the aliens’ language allows someone to see their own future. What the audience thought were flashbacks of Dr. Banks losing her teenage daughter to a violent disease, were actually flash-forwards of her future to come. She also saw the dissolution of her marriage before her daughter’s death, yet still chose to move on that path. I was moved to tears at this point of the movie, thinking about Clara and whether or not I would choose to have her even if I knew she was going to die at a young age. I don’t know how to answer that question, but it has pushed me to even better appreciate the moments I have with Clara and Alycia.
Memories
Two of my friends who saw Arrival with me both brought up Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when discussing the movie. I hadn’t really made that connection, even though I very much enjoy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Instead of running from the painful memories like Jim Carey’s character, Dr. Banks fully embraced them. She knew what was coming, the pain of a divorce and the loss of a child, but that wasn’t enough to outweigh the joy. The greatest joys we feel come at the risk of feeling the deepest pain. To a much lesser extent of Banks’ experiences in the movie, I was filled with more joy over the Cubs winning the World Series than I thought possible. However, had they lost Game 7 after being four outs away from winning, I would have been devastated. A relationship with God allows us to praise him when we experience life’s joys and rest in his peace when we experience life’s deepest pain.
Arrival was so good, so, so good. It was a well-crafted movie that told an intelligent and moving science fiction story. I love sci-fi movies with explosions and lasers as much as anyone else, but Arrival is something entirely different and better in so many ways. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it yet, plan for a double feature this weekend featuring Fantastic Beasts and Arrival.
What did you think of Arrival?
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