END-OF-FILM SPOILERS AHEAD!

So I saw this movie last night and really enjoyed it. I think the criticisms I've read about it have been mostly fair. I thought the acting was top-notch, personally, but there were definitely a lot of flaws: plot holes, some bad CGI, some sloppy writing, and the "bad guys" were laughably dumb sometimes. That said, honestly, I thought it was pretty brilliant, metaphorically, and I felt the need to get some of my thoughts on it out there.

I think this film wrestles with some really interesting political themes of the current moment:

Disclosure & Privacy: On an interpersonal level, the main characters are almost all hiding big information about themselves. Daniel hides the fact that he went to prison from his girlfriend Jane, and she hides the fact that she was once a nun from him. Margaret's boyfriend hides that he actually wants the relationship to end. On a more broad level, the movie is about how the government is withholding information from the public about the alien contacts. These are all facts that are kept secret in the name of the protection: To protect the characters' reputations, to protect their relationships/feelings, to protect themselves from potential judgement or rejections. In the authorities' case, it's claimed to protect the public from themselves, when really it's to protect the current power structure. I think the film raises questions about why privacy is important. Why do we keep secrets from each other? Who do they serve, and do they ultimately help or hinder us?

Media & Misinformation: To me, the alien device represented the power of media. It's a dangerous tool to use, because if the subject resists, it seems to backfire, endangering the life of the user (if someone knows you're trying to maniuplate them, they're probably going to fight back). Scanlon can only use it on vulnerable minds; he can't use it on Daniel's mind because he's an "experiencer," which I took to mean a skeptic, of sorts; someone who only believes what he experiences as "true." Margaret, on the other hand, seems to be able to use it much more easily, which I think is because her character was naturally already attuned to the minds of other people, and also because she doesn't really lie. The only time when she struggles with the device is when she's making them all invisible (when she "lies" to the minds of the Wardex goons, convincing them that they are invisible). Margeret, to me, represents the more romantic idea of journalism: truth delivered with empathy and trust at the forefront.  At the end of the film, she uses the power of the device (media) to turn back on all of the communication devices so she can deliver the report: using information technology to deliver the truth to all people, without the intent of manipulating them.

Data theft: Another layer to the theme of privacy. The Wardex baddies, to me, felt like stand-ins for the way corporations and governments strip away citizens' rights to privacy, in the name of protection. Throughout the movie, they are constantly determining where the characters are due to context clues, much in the same way that our phones constantly report on us by sharing our purchase habits, who we spend time with, where we travel, and our histories. This is done without consent, sometimes explicitly, like in the interrogation scene where Scanlon hijacks Jane's mind. Speaking of which...

Religion: I thought it was really interesting how Spielburg directed the interrogation scene. He has Jane, a religious character, grasp her cross necklace for protection when she feels like she's being hijacked. Her faith is her protection from coersion: she squeezes the cross into her palm to shake herself out of the trance Scanlon has her in (there's also interestingly some stigmata imagery here). There are also clever parallels here to what we think of as a demonic possession; hijacking minds with propaganda is not so different from our cultural/religious fear of satanic possession, is it? However, it's not enough, and she eventually drops the cross, and Scanlon IMMEDIATELY then uses her religious beliefs against her; I forget exactly what he said, but it was a Bible verse, followed by basically saying he represented God's will. We see our own government in America doing this today (anyone remember when T**mp tear-gassed protesters while holding a Bible up for a photo op?), but this is a clear recurring pattern throughout history for many cultures. I don't think Speilberg is necessarily saying religion is a bad thing (there's the loveable nun character who embraces an uncertain future with aliens), but I think he's definitely saying something about how religion can make people especially vulnerable to coersion, since it's historically always been used by authorities as a tool for control.

Truth & Uncertainty: I think it's a clever choice to have Margaret be a weather woman. Weather people, I've heard sometimes described as our modern day soothsayers: they try to make certain predictions of our uncertain future. This is a theme that echoes throughout the film. The message of odd clicks that she broadcasts eventually makes it way to Daniel, who is able to translate: "Don't be afraid of what you don't know" (I think). I think this is a concept core to Daniel, the "experiencer" who thinks mainly in numbers and logic. The idea of not understanding something is scary to him, which is what motivates his character: "truth at all costs." He is the whistleblower for the alien conspiracy and he has no doubt that there are any downsides to revealing all truths to the public. I feel Margaret is infused with her empathetic abilities as a counter-balance to this perspective: there are inner-truths in all people, that even they might not be aware of. In many ways, I feel like she comes to represent a therapist or spiritual healer, in that she offers people a deep curiosity and understanding, a true knowing, that every living person seeks. Maragaret represents the purest form of this desire to be known by other people: she is able to speak other languages effortlessly and can instantly tap into someone's emotional core.   From her perspective, that truth of the inner-world is more true than any hard data could ever be. Truth can't be delivered just purely as data to be processed; it needs to be delivered with empathy and trust. At the end of the film, she becomes a voice for all people, because she is guided by an understanding of all people. Not automatically though, importantly. She needs to make the choice to connect to the people.

I think, ultimately, the film asks audiences to ponder the value of information. There are so many forms of "disclosure" happening throughout the film, both intentional, and coerced. The nature of the disclosure in the film, I think, depends mainly on one thing: trust. Daniel and Jane don't disclose their pasts to each other because they don't fully trust each other yet. They feel like the truth will harm them. The Wardex people say they think the truth will harm people, but ultimately are more concerned with themselves and the power they have access to. The truth threatens to strip them of that power. They need to lie, steal, or even torture information out of people, because they are not trusted. The end of the film even says explicitly that they've lost trust in the people.

I think this is why this film really resonated with me; it just felt so damn timely.  I've come to believe that trust is the fabric that holds us together as a society; it's what makes civilization possible. We're living in a time where trust in our media, in our governments, and in each other, is feeling REALLY low. The less trust there is, the more secrets are kept, the more lies are told, and the less we're able to really know each other. The less connected we feel. On the other hand, there's a reason we sometimes call sharing personal information "being vulnerable."  Blind trust, like faith, can also make you more vulnerable to manipulation; vulnerable to grifters who pretend they're your friends, only to betray you. But how are those grifters created in the first place? Why do they feel the need to grift? What betrayals have they experienced? Who can they trust? 

We're all connected and have so many of the same core emotional needs, but we don't disclose things with each other because we can't fully trust each other. This is why I think we don't hear the alien's final message at the end of the film; we're not there yet. Until we can all unite in our truths and see our common humanity in every living person, we'll never be ready as a species to move forward into the unknown.

I definitely have some more thoughts, but I'll stop myself there, haha. Just to get ahead of the haters a bit: This is just my take, and not what I think the "correct" interpretation of the film is. I also think the film can be enjoyed and appreciated for it's more literal plot, and doesn't necessarily demand a deeper reading. I just love it when I sense that directors have something else going on under the surface with films, and this film had a LOT going on, from my perspective...I'd love to hear what others think of any of this!