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Theme comparison: 'Contact' v. 'Altered States'

posted 14 years ago by kshiarella
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Robert Zemeckis's Contact and Ken Russell's Altered States seem like radically different movies but the themes of each movie are strikingly similar.

Our lead characters in each film are brilliant scientists who are emotionally and spiritually gutted as children due to the death of their fathers. Each character proceeds to eschew human emotional bonds as meaningless or risky and instead put their faith in science to find the true meaning of life. Each character is so obsessed with their search that they sacrifice human bonds.

In the case of Ellie Arroway in Contact, she turns to outer space for her answers. Dr. Eddie Jessup in Altered States explores inner space.

And in both cases each truth seeker encounters the truth they seek, and in both cases the answer is the same. It is the emotional and spiritual connection among each other, love, that provides the meaning to our human condition.

Although Altered States is the wilder film, the point of the salvation of Eddie is more clearly stated. The ending of Contact is clumsy, which has left the film open to all this ridiculous "science v. God" debate which the movie tries to reconcile.

[–] rogerwatersfan3 14 years ago

*SPOILERS FOR CONTACT AND ALTERED STATES*

I think "Altered States" is the clunkier movie, ending in some sort of bizarre cartoon light show, and unconvincing emoting. I was enthralled until he turned into the ape. The ending of "Contact" doesn't try to reconcile God and science...it clearly is trying to say that in the end, faith is important, and so is science. They don't cancel each other out, which unfortunately is the either/or approach by many on both sides...and what the film is trying to rise above. Foster is faced with a situation where she has to explain her experiences, and asks her audience to accept her story "on faith". A brilliant ending...and much more satisfying than the tacked on video game tomfoolery on display in "Altered States".

I thought "Altered States" had good performances though, and some interesting (if slightly annoying, due to their hyperactivity) hallucination sequences.