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I presume that a majority of the students currently attending Loyola have taken the time to enjoy "E. T.", "Independence Day", "Men in Black" or other sci-fi features. However, I think it would be a safe bet to say that few have watched another classic from the genre, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
This engaging and visually stunning film sucks you into a journey in a realm far outside our knowledge. There is abnormal evidence left behind as well as actual sightings of UFOs that often leads to more questions unanswered. Why are planes reported missing in World War II suddenly found in the desert, without any signs of aging? Why does Roy Neary hear the same five musical notes in his mind after witnessing an alien space craft? These questions are steadily revealed in a movie that never leaves you less than breathless.
The story is structured by the three encounters one can have with an extra- terrestrial. The first kind is the actual witnessing of a UFO. Roy Neary (played by one of Hollywood's best, Richard Dreyfuss) is a worker for the local cable company who sets out in the middle of the night to fix a power outage. While lost in the back roads of rural Indiana, his car is suddenly engulfed by a powerful light that, upon flying away, reveals itself to be an alien spacecraft. This night takes a normal family man down the path of obsession with any reports of similar encounters, five repeated musical notes, and a vision of some sort of mountain structure. As his family life begins to unravel, so does the mystery behind his descent into madness.
The second plotline involves the second kind of encounter which is the evidence of life forms unknown to man. This follows the government agents who find unexplainable occurrences such as the missing World War II planes as well as a long list of witnesses, among them Roy Neary. All of these elements lead to a thorough investigation that they dutifully try to cover up as they mock the claims of sightings in the public eye.
Those who have experienced the sight of the spacecrafts and those who investigate the clues left behind then converge when the third type of encounter, contact, is made. It is then that we can begin to understand the oddities of those involved and it is then that we begin to see if our predictions were true (though I must say that is not an easy film to guess).
If I were to compare this movie to any other, it would be "E.T". Both films are written and directed by the incomparable Steven Spielberg who, as many audiences worldwide would agree, has a unique talent for crafting a film of epic proportions that feels intimate at the same time. He beautifies both the natural and unusual while opening the door into the mind of men faced with the unknown. Aside from the metaphors and allusions, it is simply an entertaining experience that provides food for the eyes without the computer graphics so heavily depended upon in modern cinema.
The acting and directing, along with the sights and sounds often gives one the sense of immersion into the actual story rather than the feeling of standing by and simply witnessing the events unfolding before you. It is comical, serious, psychological, and other-worldly all at the same time. This is the kind of film that stays with you far after the final credits roll and makes you wonder.
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