Contact (1997) : Journey to the heart of Universe

Brilliant performance by Jodie Foster is what makes this film must watch

Have you ever enjoyed an opening sequence of a film so much that you wished it never ended. Contact’s opening sequence is absolutely brilliant and for about two minutes you are lost in its awesomeness as the visuals zooms out of Earth into far end of the universe.

Robert Zemeckis’s (director of Forrest Gump) Contact happens to be one of my favorite science fiction films. Sure it doesn’t have lead protagonist battling in space or stranded in another planet to stay alive, it doesn’t have a magnanimous black hole into which our hero falls. Or a killer robot hellbent on eliminating our protagonist. No! but its a satisfying film to say the least. It doesn’t answer anything but help us get comfortable with our unawareness.

Towards the end Dr Ellie Arroway played by Jodie Foster, talking to a bunch of school kids, says that she will tell them one thing about the universe. That its big. Bigger than anything we ever imagined. And if its just us.. seems like an awful waste of space.

Indeed!

Drake Equation and the Search for Alien Civilization

Are we alone?

Looking up into the night sky, us humans have the habit of going into all existential mode pondering about life in general. Philosophers and scientists throughout centuries have been wondering if we are really Alone in this universe. The question does form an interesting premise for a philosophical debates.

Then, early in nineteenth century, scientists started asking another more specific question, much more scientific one.

‘If they do exist, Where are they? And how many of them are technically advanced enough to reach out to us?’

Remember E.T? or the desi one called Jaadoo? What if civilizations such as that did exist somewhere in the cosmos?